THE 

PRINCIPLES OF TRUE CHRISTIANITY 



VINDICATED; 

BY ONE WHO HAS TRAVELLED THROUGH THE LABYRINTHS OF 
DEISM, AND COULD NOT FIND A BESTING PLACE THEREIN. 

WITH 

A BEIEF PEKSONAL NARRATIVE PREFIXED, 

AND 

AN APPENDIX; 

CONSISTING CHIEFLY OF EXTRACTS FKOM THE WOEKS OF 
EMINENT WRITERS ON RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS 



By WILLIAM GRIMSHAW. 



" They profess that they know God, but in works thfey deny him." 

Titds i. 16. 



FOURTH EDITION, ENLARGED 




LONDON : V,, 

CHARLES GILPIN, 5, BISHOPSGA1 

EDWARD MARSH, 84, HOUNDSDITCH; 
WILLIAM IRWIN, MANCHESTER. 

1846. 



LONDON: 
PRINTED BY E. NEWMAN, 
DEVONSHIRE STREET, BISHOPSGATE. 



PREFACE, 



(INCLUDING A SHORT NARRATIVE.) 

From a conviction of the truth of the Christian 
religion, I have for some time past been desirous to 
write a short vindication of its principles, having ex- 
perienced their efficacy in my own mind : and having 
afore-time suffered my mind to be drawn into, and 
been active in disseminating, the principles of unbe- 
lief, I feel it a duty to endeavour to convince those 
whom I have left behind in error, and feel also a 
sympathy for such, as well as for all who are suffering 
their minds to be warped aside from the blessed prin- 
ciples of the Gospel of truth. 

Soon after the commencement of the French revo- 
lution, my mind became prepared by means of the 
political and other influences to which T was at that 
time exposed, to receive the impressions which the 

a 2 



iv 



PREFACE. 



various infidel publications then in circulation were 
calculated to produce. I was then actively engaged 
as a Delegate to one of the Divisions of that well- 
known Political Association, the " London Corres- 
ponding Society f and, after the Bill for imposing 
restrictions on assembling for such purposes as that 
Society had in view, passed into a law, I was for some 
time a Member of its Central Committee. In the 
meetings I then attended, religious subjects were fre- 
quently canvassed, as well as political ; and the Mem- 
bers were soon led to consider the Church and State 
as so united, that whatever existed in the one, would 
always be countenanced by the other ; and thus see- 
ing as they believed, priestcraft in religion, they were 
soon brought to the erroneous conclusion, that all re- 
ligion was priestcraft. 

This, in fact, was nearly the state of my mind when 
the " Age of Reason" first came out; so that, on read- 
ing this production, whatever remaining respect I had 
for religion, or fear as to rejecting it, was entirely dis- 
sipated : I no longer considered religion as a good, 
but as an evil and an imposture. Under such im- 
pressions I thought it meritorious to expose it in 



PREFACE. 



v 



whatever way I could, which was chiefly attempted 
by debates on Scripture questions, and by writing 
small pieces, songs, &c, for the political periodical 
papers of the day; some of which were introduced into 
a work published by T. Spence, author of the " Sys- 
tem for the equalization of Landed Property," now 
called after his name 16 Spencean." 

I afterwards endeavoured to form a body or Asso- 
ciation of Deists; and, in order thereto, consulted 
with a few Members of the " London Corresponding 
Society," of the same sentiments as myself, and also 
with two others of its Members, Hodgson, and Hunt, 
generally styled, Dr. Hodgson, and Dr. Hunt, who 
had both been in prison for two years, on account of 
seditious words spoken at the London Tavern ; and 
who were in consequence held by us in double 
estimation. By them, the plan was eagerly entered 
into, though the former had, during his imprison- 
ment, employed himself in translating the Atheistical 
work of Mirabaud, and was known to avow, in com- 
mon with Hunt, opinions of the same stamp. This 
may appear to some an inconsistency — Deists unit- 
ing with Atheists ; but Deists know, with me, that 



Vlll 



PREFACE. 



" Toleration," a theme deemed well fitted for the oc- 
casion, but the lecture being rather too short for the 
entertainment of the evening, to make up the defici- 
ency, the two doctors, Hodgson and Hunt, alter- 
nately harangued the meeting, which was pretty nu- 
merously attended. We had a device drawn (intended 
for a card), which was framed, and hung in front of 
the pulpit or reading desk : it represented " Truth " 
in a beautiful female form, holding out a mirror, 
w r ith its rays of light darted upon a monstrous figure 
in human shape under her feet, meant to represent 
superstition, with sceptre, mitre, cross and beads, 
broken and scattered. This picture became the ob- 
ject of attention to a constable, who had introduced 
himself for the purpose of watching our proceedings, 
and he soon began to show his authority by ordering 
all to disperse, or (he said), he would take us into 
custody. He interrupted the meeting for some time, 
till at length, some one in the room exclaimed, " turn 
the fellow out !" which was soon done by our " moral 
friends;" and one or two umbrellas were broken in 
the scufHe ; but he so far succeeded, as to get two 
persons to the watch-house. These were bailed out 
till morning, when they appeared to answer the charge 



PREFACE. 



IX 



made against them before the magistrate, Patrick Col- 
quhoun, at the Police-office in Worship Street. 

The constable represented the meeting as seditious ; 
that we were preaching sedition, and that we had a 
picture, representing a "Jacobin" trampling on the 
king and constitution. The device was hereupon 
handed up to the magistrate, with our rules and re- 
gulations ; and an explanation took place, which soon 
showed that the constable had overstepped his duty. 
The tables were now turned ; the prisoners were im- 
mediately dismissed from the bar, and the constable 
was rebuked for interfering where he had no business; 
he was informed that he should have come to the 
magistrate, to have apprized him of anything which 
appeared wrong, and he would have been instructed 
in his duty ; his improper conduct on the occasion 
fully justified the meeting in turning him out; but, 
said the worthy magistrate, (addressing himself to us), 
" I perceive the drift and intention of your meetings ; 
you are of the principles of ' Thomas Paine,' (or words 
to that effect), but I would have you be cautious how 
you proceed; Government has an eye on all your 

a 3 



X 



PREFACE. 



meetings, and when you get beyond certain bounds, 
yve shall then lay our hands on you." 

The affair thus concluded, was quite a triumph for 
our Society : we afterwards met, as we conceived, 
under the sanction of magistracy ; and, indeed, were 
never more interrupted : but our union did not con- 
tinue long; writing lectures, for which nothing was to 
be obtained but empty praise, became a tedious per- 
formance ; our meetings ceased to be a novelty, and 
as our visitors diminished, of course our zeal abated, 
and the thing was given up. 

It was in this Society I learnt to appreciate the un- 
soundness of Deism, by the characters of many of its 
Members over whom, at this time, I shall draw a veil ; 
but I began to think with the American, Franklin, 
(who, when young and inclined to that system, had 
experienced somewhat of the same effects in his as- 
sociate) 6 that the doctrine of Deism, though it might 
be true, was not very useful indeed, I could not, 
from what I knew of the practices of many of its 
members, but draw such a conclusion. 



PREFACE. 



Xi 



About the time when our Association was discon- 
tinued, an advertisement appeared in the newspapers, 
of a meeting for religious worship, to take place at a 
room in Fleet Street, near the end of Fetter Lane. 
The singularity of the advertisement, of which 1 
forget the particulars, struck my attention ; and, as 
I was somewhat like the Athenians of old, ever seek- 
ing after some new thing, I was determined to attend 
at the time appointed. 

The meeting was convened by two persons, one of 
whom had been of the Society of Friends, but had 
seceded from it, under the impression that the So- 
ciety did not sufficiently publish its own principles ; 
the other had never been in that connexion, but was 
of similar sentiments with the first. The meeting was 
pretty numerously attended. 

After one of these persons explained a little the 
nature of the meeting, they sat a considerable time 
silent, after the manner of Friends, when one of them 
rose and spoke rather at length, on the nature of spi- 
ritual worship, and of the abominable wickedness of 
the times, arising from false principles ; explaining 



Xll 



PREFACE. 



the principles of Christianity somewhat according to 
the views of Friends. Afterwards, his companion said 
a few words, I think in as solemn a manner as I ever 
heard. I was struck with both the manner and mat- 
ter of the discourse so much, that I began to appre- 
hend (particularly after the experience I had had of 
my former associates), there was something more im- 
portant in the doctrines of Christianity, than as yet 
I had been led to believe. I attended at this meeting 
several times, and became acquainted with persons 
who had been the means of calling it together, and 
borrowed some books of them, chiefly the writings of 
William Law ; one of which was his " Appeal to all 
who doubt or disbelieve the truths of the Gospel." 

It was this book, with some others of the same 
author's writings, which quite confirmed me in the 
truths of Christianity, and showed to me, that the 
principles cf Deism were wrong, even on rational 
grounds ; and that the state of man required some- 
thing more to correct the depravity which is every- 
where so conspicuous, than anything that Deism 
could offer. 



PREFACE. 



XU1 



After this meeting was given up, I attended one 
afternoon, on the first day of the week, a meeting of 
the Society of Friends, in Hoimdsditch, at which 
was present a Minister of theirs from America, then 
on a religious visit to this country, by name, Thomas 
Scattergood ; a man esteemed not only in that So- 
ciety, but also by many out of it, as eminently qua- 
lified for the service in which he was engaged. His 
discourse, after a space of silence, was upon Zaccheus' 
being called down from the sycamore tree, on which 
he had climbed to see Christ pass by. On this sub- 
ject he dwelt very forcibly for some time, — on peo- 
ple's exalting themselves to find out religion, getting 
into high imaginations and high reasonings, rambling 
on barren mountains; but the call, he observed, was 
" Zaccheus, make haste and come down, for to-day I 
must abide at thy house :" — that our Lord w r as still 
calling down those that were elevated ; that religion 
did not consist in high notions and refined specula- 
tions, but in humility and obedience to the Divine 
principle, [the Spirit of Truth] ; and that with the 
humble and lowly mind, Christ takes up his abode. 

From this time, I attended regularly the meetings 



PREFACE. 



of the Friends ; and about two years after, was ac- 
knowledged by them as a member of their religious 
Society. 

This is upwards of twenty years since, and I am 
more than ever convinced of the excellence of Gospel 
truth ; and, having a family of ten children, I con- 
sider it an inestimable blessing that they are receiv- 
ing the benefit of a Christian education, pointing out 
the path which leads safely through life, and con- 
ducts to a well-grounded hope in death.* 

What operated much in bringing me to the conclu- 
sion of uniting with the Society of Friends, in addi- 
tion to the circumstance of my lot having been cast 
amongst them in the manner above described, was 
their having no stipendiary ministers amongst them, 

* It is now more than twenty-five years since the foregoing 
narrative was penned, and the writer has lived long enough to see 
in measure those principles tested in part of his own family : the 
Almighty, in the ordering of his providence, having removed hy 
death two of the above number, a daughter and a son, of whom a 
short but an interesting account has been given in two Articles of 
the Annual Monitor, published by Friends, for 1835 and 1838. 



PREFACE. XV 

and acknowledging no head in their Church but 
Christ, agreeable to the injunction, " Be not ye called 
Rabbi, for one is your master, even Christ, and all ye 
are brethren." 

It is proper to remark, that the following pages are 
designed to set forth those generally-acknowledged 
principles of Christianity itself, which, in ray view, 
are necessary for all to be acquainted with, let their 
name to religion be what it may ; and in doing this, 
I may add, that I would combat no man's opinion 
with any other weapons than those of persuasion and 
argument. I am still a warm friend to civil and re- 
ligious liberty, and wish every one to be fully satisfied 
in his own mind. 



As a plain man, I shall endeavour at plain truths, 
and such truths I hope as will not be unworthy of re- 
gard. All I desire is, that they may be read with a 
serious and unprejudiced mind, that judgeth not su- 
perficially, or by parts only ; nor with a mere dispo- 
sition to criticise thereon ; but that their inward sense 
and meaning may be regarded. If to seek after truth 
for its own sake were more generally attended to by 



XVI 



PREFACE. 



many who call themselves Christians, as well as by 
Deists, it would prevent much of the misunderstand- 
ing and altercation which are at present so prevalent 
among mankind. 

A weighty writer, in his introduction to a late tract 
offered to the consideration of Christians and Deists, 
has these words : — " I should reckon it a matter of 
great importance if I knew how to bespeak the serious 
attention of the reader to one of the greatest articles of 
the Christian religion, and of the greatest concern to 
himself." This writer's fear of inattention in his 
readers arose from the extreme levity of those whom 
he addressed : and I must confess that a like fear 
hath impressed my mind, because of that hardness of 
heart and lightness of mind which I have discovered 
in too many. 

I shall, probably, be classed by sceptics and infi- 
dels among their lists of fools and fanatics for attempt- 
ing to vindicate truths which, however they may be 
contemned by them, are not only important and es- 
sential in themselves, but will certainly, at some future 
period, be known even by them to be such. I have ad- 



PREFACE. 



xvii 



dressed this to all who profess to believe in a God, be- 
cause the belief of an eternal God and the immortality 
of the soul, (two important truths generally admitted 
by Deists, and truths which cannot be easily sepa- 
rated from the mind,) are a sufficient foundation upon 
which to build this treatise. 

There is a character to whom I have but little hope 
that anything that might be addressed to him will 
be of any avail — he who has endeavoured to destroy 
in himself the groundwork of every serious thought 
and the foundation of religion — I mean the Atheist, 
whether avowed or disguised: nevertheless, believing 
that God, whose love is extended over all his works, 
is still striving inwardly with many who have denied 
him outwardly, I earnestly desire that such would no 
longer shut their hearts against him, but that they 
may be open for the reception of those secret convic- 
tions which may from time to time be impressed on 
their minds. " To-day, to-day, if ye will hear his 
voice, harden not your hearts." It is dangerous to 
trifle with Omnipotence. Deists, I admit, are not 
without some plea or excuse in their dissent from that 
which they call Christianity. Separated as they are 



xviii 



PREFACE. 



from the different sects, they have seen the narrow 
principles of some, and the inconsistencies of others, 
as well as of those wars which stain the name of Chris- 
tianity. But the causes of offence belong not to Christ 
or his religion ; they originate in those lusts which he 
came to redeem us from ; and however such as occa- 
sion them may assume his name, it is certain they are 
not yet come into the unity of that faith which enables 
us to overcome the world in all its deceptive and hurt- 
ful presentations. The time, I hope, will arrive when 
not only the contentions, envy, and intolerance which 
disgrace the profession of Christianity shall give place 
to the true spirit of the Gospel, which breathes peace 
on earth and good-will to men, but when it likewise 
shall be divested of those redundant and superstitious 
observances with which interested men, who make a 
gain of godliness, have encumbered it. 

But in this little treatise my view is not so much to 
oppose or pull down error as to set up truth ; not so 
much to oppose the Deist and his manner of reason- 
ing as to point out and vindicate the truth of the 
Christian religion; by showing, with reference to the 
state of man, the importance and the necessity of the 



PREFACE. 



XIX 



aid which it reveals. Yet, after all 1 have said upon 
this subject, it must be considered but as an imper- 
fect sketch : well assured I am, if the doctrine of 
Christianity could be fully displayed in all its bear- 
ings to the mind of the Deist, it would operate on his 
principles as light doth on darkness. It is not my 
intention to advance anything new, but, as said the 
Apostle, " That which was from the beginning, which 
we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked 
upon, and our hands have handled of the word of 
life that alone do I seek to establish — a doctrine 
which may be felt and experienced within, as well as 
that it is written and declared of without, in the 
Scriptures of truth, 

I am aware of one objection being made by the 
Deistical reader ; he may say, " Why draw proofs 
from Scripture, which we do not admit ? First prove 
the Scriptures to be the word of truth." 

I answer, I have adopted those Scripture expres- 
sions, which are in this work, from a conviction of 



* 1 John i. 1. 



XX 



PREFACE. 



their truth and importance and to reject them merely 
because they are Scripture would argue a narrow and 
prejudiced mind. I only wish them to bear their due 
weight. I appeal not so much to Scripture with re- 
gard to the Deist as to the evidence for truth in his 
own mind : if he will but, in an humble manner, 
search his own heart, I trust he will not only be con- 
vinced of the truth of what I have written, but also 
find a testimony for the truth of those Scriptures which 
he now so much opposes ; neither are they quoted so 
much for proof as for illustration of my subject; yet 
not without a hope that the force of these illustrations 
may tend to conviction. At the same time let it be 
observed, that I am not writing to Deists only, but 
also to those who may be considered as greater ene- 
mies to Christianity than even Deists themselves, be- 
ing like Judas, who kissed, while he betrayed, his 
Lord — I mean those nominal Christians who profess 
to believe, yea, venerate the Scriptures, but whose 
lives are in direct contrariety to the doctrines and 
precepts thereof. 



CONTENTS. 



PREFACE. 

PAGE. 

A short narrative respecting the author, showing the cause of 
his adopting Deism, his zeal in disseminating its princi- 
ples, and the reason of his again embracing those of Chris- 
tianity iii 

CHAPTER I. 

An address to sincere seekers after truth, showing some effi- 
cacy in the preaching of the Gospel — Depravity of our 
nature — The necessity of a Saviour pointed out — The rea- 
sonableness of the Redemption offered us by the Gospel . 1 



CHAPTER II. 

On following nature and reason — A short sketch of the pro- 
gress of Infidelity — the various capacities of men in the 
pursuit of natural and spiritual knowledge — view of the 
various opinions respecting the nature of man — His state 
considered as threefold — The insufficiency of nature and 
reason as a guide without the aid of revelation . . 20 



xxii 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER III. 

PAGE. 

On following Scripture — The Scriptures recommended to be 
read with a mind disposed to yield to conviction — The 
testimony of John Locke and Sir William Jones on the 
value of the Scriptures — Neither the nominal Christian 
nor the critical Deist likely to profit much by them, but 
only the sincere inquirer — The Scriptures a true, outward, 
and visible index, pointing to the things of God and the 
redemption of man through Jesus Christ . . .43 



CHAPTER IV. 

On following Scripture (continued), chiefly addressed to such 
as follow Socinian or Unitarian views, and to nominal 
Christians — The attributes of God, his omnipotence, om- 
nipresence, and omniscience, as revealed to us by Scrip- 
ture, exemplified by striking texts — Man's presumption, 
depravity, and ignorance — The great love of God in pro- 
viding the means of our restoration and redemption by 
Jesus Christ — The perfect adaptation of the Gospel to the 
need of man in the fall : this seen especially in the union 
of the Divine and heavenly nature in Jesus Christ — That 
no system suggested by man could possibly give salvation 
— The reader invited to mark, learn, and inwardly digest 
the historical and prophetical parts of the Old Testament, 
and to compare and judge their harmony with the Gospel 
of the New Testament 65 



CONTENTS. 



xxiii 



CHAPTER V. 



On following Christ — The nature of Christ's mediatorial 
office pointed out — To follow Christ is to know our salva- 
tion completed, by his cleansing, purifying, and sanctify- 
ing power— An appeal to Deists, on the difference between 
notional and pure Christianity, and their attention called 
to the living and operative principle thereof . . .112 



CHAPTER VI. 



Conclusion — The difference between a merely historical and 
Divine faith pointed out — The Deist, by rejecting Divine 
revelation, in great danger of falling into Atheism — The 
principles and doctrine of Christianity alone calculated to 
put an end to wars, and promote peace and harmony among 
mankind — Concluding with an invitation to all to seek 
after that Spirit which enables us to fulfil those doctrines, 
and qualifies for a profitable perusal of the sacred writings 140 



APPENDIX. 



Being select extracts, to which the reader is referred for cor- 
roboration in the course of his reading . 



157 



CHAPTER I. 



AN ADDRESS TO ALL WHO ARE SINCERE SEEKERS 
AFTER TRUTH. 



" I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple 
concerning evil ; and the God of peace shall bruise Satan under 
your feet shortly." — Romans xvi. 19, 20. 

If there are but a few in the wilderness of doubt 
and disputation who begin to see the barrenness of 
contention, and that nothing but briars and thorns 
are to be expected from it, and yet, amidst the mul- 
tiplicity of opinions, know not where to find a rest- 
ing-place ; my desire is that this Address may be 
instrumental to fix their minds on a more sure and 
firm basis : and to such the language of my heart is, 
Dear friends, seek not the living amongst the dead : 
if you are enquirers after truth, so also am I. It is 
said, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, 
that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; 
and it shall be given him." * t 

* James, 1 — 5. 

f" I can call," says Lord Chief Justice Hale, M my own expe- 
rience to witness, that even in the external actions, occurrences, 
and incidents of my whole life, I was never disappointed of the 
hest guidance and direction, when in humility, and a sense of de~ 

B 



2 



ADDRESS TO 



Every man hath allotted to him by the great God 
of all truth, a talent to occupy and improve, and as he 
becomes obedient to the little he knows, he will ex- 
perience an increase, for the truth will grow up in the 
truly seeking mind as regularly as the natural plant 
from its own seed or root; but as no plant can spring 
or grow but from its own natural seed or root, so nei- 
ther can truth but from its own seed or root of divine 
light, implanted in the mind of man ; and as a plant 
may be impeded or checked in its growth by noxious 
and obtruding weeds, so may the growth of truth be 
retarded, and this light of the mind obscured, by a 
multiplicity of obtruding opinions; and such has mi- 
serably been the case with many in this present day. 
It is to guard my friendly readers against those many 
obtruding opinions that my efforts will be much en- 
gaged, not so much by opposing errors as by setting 
forth plain, practical, and Scriptural truths. 

John Newton once observed, " My principal me- 
thod for defeating heresy, is by establishing truth. 
One proposes to fill a bushel with tares ; now," says 
he, " if I can fill it first with wheat, I shall defy his 
attempt." Should I, in a small degree only, be ena- 
bled to " vindicate the ways of God to man," by giv- 
ing a more faithful and more Scriptural view to the 
truly seeking mind, showing that Christ died for all 



ficiency, and diffidence of my own ability to direct myself, or to 
grapple with the difficulties of my life, I have implored the secret 
guidance of the divine Wisdom and Providence." 



SINCERE SEEKERS. 



3 



men ; that 66 God so loved the world, that he gave his 
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him 
should not perish, but have everlasting life ; " * then 
I trust this little work will not have been written in 
vain, but that it will tend to establish the consoling 
doctrine that the Gospel is offered freely to all, with- 
out reservation, by Him who is emphatically styled 
" The Truth," in whose lips was no guile. He is not 
yea and nay, but in him was yea, as the apostle ob- 
serves, — " For all the promises of God in him are 
yea and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. n f 
Oh! if men will come into the simplicity, and 
walk in the love and light of Christ, those nice dis- 
tinctions, which man has drawn in the will of his 
own vanity, would die away: there would be no need 
of creedsj or tests, but we should be all gathered in 
simple love into the one fold under the one Shep- 
herd ; and if we will hear his voice, and become will- 
ing to follow him, and not trust to our own under- 

* Johniii. 16. f 2 Car. 20 - 

I " From a cool examination of the nature of God, the nature 
of man, the nature of Christianity, the nature of all powers within 
the compass of human thought to employ, the history of past 
times, the state of the present, in a word, of every idea that be- 
longs to the imposition of a human creed, we venture to affirm, 
the attempt is irrational, unscriptural, impracticable, impossible. 
Creed is belief, and the production of belief by penal sanctions, 
neither is, nor was, nor is to come. The project never entered the 
mind of a professor of any science, except that of Theology. It 
is high time theologists should explode it." — Preface to Saurin, 
vol. iii. U.K. 

B2 



4 



ADDRESS TO 



standings or vain conceits, he who careth for his 
sheep will draw us into that in which all that is good 
and excellent centres, and all that is contrary thereto 
is done away.* 

I have long been persuaded that Christians of 
various denominations have accepted the Scriptures 
too exclusively according to the letter; the apostle, 
speaking of his ministry, and of that of his fellow la- 
bourers, could say, " Our sufficiency is of God, who 
hath made us able ministers of the new Testament, 
not of the letter, but of the spirit,t for the letter kill- 
eth, but the spirit giveth life."! 

Thus we see that their qualification was of God ; 
but ministers of man's appointing, qualified by creeds 
and articles of faith, and graduated in colleges, are 
not very ready to adopt the apostle's views in this 
matter ; and is there not ground to fear that preach- 

* Appendix, (A), 
f " We believe it to be the duty of the ministers of the Gos- 
pel, to be diligent in the fear of God in reading the Holy Scrip- 
tures ; neither do we undervalue human learning ; but to subject 
any such to a course of teaching, as a necessary preparation for 
the ministry, is, in our apprehension, to interfere with that work 
of the Holy Spirit which our Lord carries forward in the hearts of 
those whom He calls to preach his Gospel unto others, or to mi- 
nister to the conditions of the people." — Extracts from a public 
document of the Religious Society of Friends, intitled, ' A Testi- 
mony to the Authority of Christ in his Church, and to the Spirit- 
uality of the Gospel Dispensation.' 1840. Published by E. Marsh, 
Houndsditch. 

{2 Cor. iii. 6. 



SINCERE SEEKERS, 



5 



ers of this sort are too apt to make display their prin- 
cipal object ? Pulpit oratory is much regarded, the 
people love to have it so; with such the object de- 
sired is not so much with the apostle to " use great 
plainness of speech," and to preach the gospel with 
purity and simplicity, as to command large auditories 
by the power of rhetoric : of such as these it may be 
said, they preach themselves rather than the Lord 
Jesus, to whom this language may apply, "who hath 
required this at your hand, to tread my courts ? " 
The effect of such preachers is very pertinently ad- 
verted to by a pious and popular author, in the fol- 
lowing note.* 

Great indeed is the mixture and many are the 
corruptions which are to be found in professing 
Christendom, and from this mixture and all these 
corruptions the call has been and now is going forth, 
as to Israel in days of old, " Come out of her [Baby- 
lon] my people : that ye be not partakers of her sins 
and that ye receive not of her plagues." t My friends, 
bring the application home, and obey the warning 
voice, for it is the voice of Divine Wisdom. But 

* " The religion which mixes with human passions and is set 
on fire by them, will make a stronger blaze than that light which 
is from above, which sheds a steady and lasting brightness on the 
path, and communicates a sober but durable warmth to the heart. 
It is equable and constant, while the other, like the culinary fire, 
fed by gross materials, is extinguished the sooner from the fierce- 
ness of the flame."— Hannah More. 

f Rev. xviii. 4. 



6 



ADDRESS TO 



neither let us be anxious to seek after the errors and 
faults of others, for that is too often the part of envy, 
who, to raise her own merit, detracts from the repu- 
tation of others ; but rather let it be to seek truth for 
the love of it, that it may be a light to our feet and a 
lantern to our path ; neither hiding the talent in a 
napkin, nor making an ostentatious display of it, but 
occupying and improving the same ; and let the con- 
sistency of our lives therewith be a manifest proof of 
its power ; for, without this, the greater our know- 
ledge the greater will be our condemnation. How 
many at this time are busily engaged in decrying the 
doctrines and principles of others, feeding their poor 
followers with that which is lighter than vanity ! 
How much more profitable would it be to such to 
take heed to their own steps in simplicity; and to let 
their light so shine before men, that they might glo- 
rify their Father which is in heaven ! 

Oh, my friends ! Truth is a pearl of great price, 
worthy our obtaining; but let us be careful in the 
research : drink not from polluted streams while the 
fountain of life lays open before you. God is the 
great and eternal fountain, from whence springs all 
that is truly wise and good ! Dost thou call thyself 
a deist, after the Deity ? Know that all truth and 
true wisdom proceed from that Deity. Dost thou 
call thyself a christian ? Let thy life exemplify thy 
doctrine, and give God the glory. 

As no river can boast of waters which it has not 
received from its spring, so neither can man boast 



SINCERE SEEKERS. 

✓ 



1 



of any virtue or goodness of his own; for all goodness 
which any creature possesses being derived from the 
Creator, there is no cause for boasting or vain adula- 
tion of the creature ; but it should rather, with hu- 
mility, give God the glory, who alone is the dispenser 
of every good and perfect gift.* 

"Be not high-minded, but fear," is the advice of 
one of the apostles ; and surely it is an advice that 
can do us no harm. Would it not be well for deists 
and those who approximate to them, to consider how 
far their dissent arises from what they deem an inde- 
pendent spirit? But when a concern of such impor- 
tance as the well-being of our souls is proposed to our 
consideration, doth it not become us to fear and hum- 
ble ourselves before that Being who created, who ani- 
mates, and sustains us, and whose power is infinite r 
Let this subdue our pride, and let all that is high 
bow down in dependance upon this Being who, as 
we are taught, careth for us, and hath cast up a way 
consistent with his own wisdom for us to walk in. 
Let us turn the eye of our mind inward, and wait in 
humble reverence for the inshining light of his divine 

* " As no stream can rise higher than its fountain head, — so 
that which originates with man, will end with him ; and whatso- 
ever originates in the Divine influence, will rise or return to that. 
The Lord's works alone praise Him." — George Dillwyn, a Minis- 
ter of the Religious Society of Friends, of Burlington, New Jersey, 
N. A. 

P.S. — As I shall frequently draw from his valuable store, in 
future the initials G. D. will indicate the notes of this writer. 



8 



APDRESS TQ 



wisdom, to enlighten our understandings ; for the 
voice of the Spirit of God is nowhere to be heard so 
well, nor its intelligent language to our hearts so fully 
to be understood, as in silent, humble meditation. 

Oh, my friends ! this is the place I invite you to ; 
it is here secret desires for good are raised; it is here 
the balm of consolation is poured into the wounded 
spirit ; it is here the stubborn heart is melted down ; 
it is here the guilty tremble ; and it is here the living 
christian has sweet union and communion with his 
God, and enjoys on earth a foretaste of heaven. 

If thou shouldst ever quit the noise and confusion 
of the world, and retire in singleness of heart into 
this inner temple, where the Lord alone is teacher ; 
shutting the door upon the passions, vain glory, inte- 
rest, prejudice, and everything that would obtrude 
itself so as to draw the mind from its centre ; will- 
ing that the Lord should impress upon it his divine 
will and wisdom in pure and legible characters; then 
wilt thou be likely to obtain that wisdom which the 
world cannot give : — the bright-shining mirror of 
Truth, unsullied by the world's dust, will display to 
thy spiritual eyes all those spots and blemishes of 
fallen nature, which the carnal eye is incapable of 
discerning. 

For even as the sun in the outward firmament dis- 
covers to the natural eye myriads of particles passing 
through its beams, by the light of its glorious rays, 
which would not be discernible to the eye through a 
medium less luminous ; even so will this glorious, 



SINCERE SEEKERS. 



9 



spiritual light discover to our minds those numerous 
imperfections in ourselves, of which we, in our fallen 
state, should have little or no conception. 

It is here our true states and conditions will be 
laid open and be made known to us ; the insufficien- 
cy of ourselves, by our own natural strength and will- 
working, to raise ourselves from this fallen state, will 
be made manifest to our minds by the remembrance of 
our former vows and resolutions, and our repeated 
falls and failures in the attempt to overcome some of 
those evils which our faithful Monitor has pointed 
out to us to be baneful ; but by a disregard to the 
secret convictions of our minds, we have gone on in 
perverseness and folly, till some of us have lamenta- 
bly reaped the bitter fruits of which those evils were 
the root. Under this sight and impression of our de- 
praved state, and the fear of our own insufficiency, 
arising from former experience, our minds are forced, 
as it were, into the belief of the necessity of a Divine 
Helper, a Saviour and Redeemer, to redeem us from 
that natural depravity of fallen nature from which our 
own strength and abilities are unable to deliver us. 

Here then we come to that redemption which has 
been the jest and ridicule of deists ; but Oh ! how 
necessary, how reasonable, and how compatible is it 
with the goodness of that God whom they profess to 
adore, to redeem us from the depravity of this life, in 
order to qualify us for a more glorious inheritance in 
the realms of purity and eternal bliss. 

I appeal to the hearts of my readers whether when 

b3 



10 



ADDRESS TO 



shame or calamity hath been brought home to them, 
through the indulgence or pursuit of some vice which 
their better understandings have condemned, a con- 
viction hath not been impressed upon their minds of 
the odiousness and deformity of such vice, so that 
they have reproached and passed condemnation up- 
on themselves for their folly and perverseness ; and 
at such times have felt a fervent desire, a prayer of 
the heart, that they might have strength and resolu- 
tion to resist and overcome the evil in future. Now 
to any one who has felt anything like this, I say, this 
conviction is from the light of the Holy Spirit within 
thee ; and as thou art attentive thereto, it will gra- 
dually become thy strength and thy glory ; for this 
light which convinces us of sin, is that which will 
lead us out of sin, and give us a glimpse of that per- 
fection which it is our highest glory to press after. 
And though it may be but as the opening of the morn- 
ing, yet, as we become concerned and inclined to be 
led by the light, it will manifest itself more and more; 
as it is said, " The path of the just is a shining light, 
which shineth more and more unto the perfect day:"* 
" But the light of the wicked shall be put out ; and 
the spark of his fire shall not shine :"f these are such 
as continue in hardened impenitency. 

I am more than ever convinced that right views of 
the ever-blessed Scriptures are likely to prepare the 
minds of those who receive them, to resist the argu- 
ments of the gainsayer, so that they may not be turn- 
* Pro v. iv. 18. i Job, xviii. 5. 



SINCERE SEEKERS. 



ed aside, or their stability endangered, by every wind 
of doctrine. And be it observed, I would no more 
spiritualize, or attempt to allegorize, that which is 
plain and obviously intended to be literally under- 
stood, than I would seek to bring down to the com- 
prehension of my reasoning faculties, those deep 
things of God and heavenly mysteries, which were 
never designed to be weighed in the balance of hu- 
man judgment. 

Our Saviour, addressing himself to his disciples, 
who, be it remembered, were described as unlearned 
and ignorant men, said, " Unto you it is given to 
know the mystery of the kingdom of God : but unto 
them that are without, all these things are done in 
parables." * Indeed, we need not doubt, but that 
God in his love and mercy will reveal to every seek- 
ing mind, either immediately by his Holy Spirit, or 
mediately by the outward written word, or through 
those whom he hath appointed and anointed to 
preach in his name, that portion of knowledge which 
he in his wisdom sees needful to their particular state. 

The Lord hath many and divers ways of manifest- 
ing himself to man, in order to disturb him in his 
polluted rest, and to awaken him to his real state. 
Sometimes the obdurate he melts down in the fur- 
nace of affliction, taking away their stony hearts and 
giving a heart of flesh more susceptible of his divine 
impressions. 



* Mark iv. 11. 



12 



ADDRESS TO 



The Psalmist could say from his own experience, 
" It is good for me that I have been afflicted ; that I 
I might learn thy statutes. Before I was afflicted I 
went astray : but now have I kept thy word." So 
that he had thus far profited by His chastening hand; 
and could acknowledge it in these words : " I know, 
O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou 
in faithfulness hast afflicted me." * But with others 
He deals by more gentle means, either by outward 
and instrumental labour ; or, by His more immediate 
and internal reproofs, for "the reproofs of instruction 
are the way of life ; " dealing with all according to 
their various states and conditions. But whether we 
are impressed by the reproofs or the wooing of divine 
love, it will be the greatest wisdom to submit to its 
refining tendering operations. " I have loved thee 
with an everlasting love, (saith the Lord) : therefore 
with loving kindness have I drawn thee."t 

As some confirmation of the above, let me not 
shrink from my testimony by relating a circumstance 
in my own experience, which will, from its peculiar 
character, illustrate in measure what is above written. 
Shortly after my conviction of the false foundation 
of deism, and my acknowledgment of the truths of 
Christianity, T was still weak in the faith as to the 
full reception of Holy Scripture, I could not at once 
see the whole truth of those sacred writings I had so 
long opposed. Somewhat like the blind man, when 



*Ps. cix. 67,71,75. 



f Jer. xxxi, 3, 



SINCERE SEEKERS, 



13 



the Saviour had partially restored him to sight, and 
put the question, " If he saw ought ? " he could only 
in reply say, " I see men as trees walking."* Such 
I may say was my imperfect vision at this time in re- 
gard to spiritual discernment, or application of Scrip- 
tures ; my eyes had been indeed touched, but they 
were to be further opened : there was a deep sense 
in many parts of the divine records which I could 
not comprehend, and much more that appeared to 
me superfluous. My mind was thus kept in a state 
of thraldom and unsettlement. 

But being one day at our meeting for worship, 
where was present a minister of the Society of Friends 
from the country on a religious visitt (a circumstance 
not unfrequent amongst us), whilst sitting in silence, 
my mind was exercised on what I then considered a 
very unimportant passage of Scripture: viz., "Pray 
ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the 
Sabbath day "J What could this mean? It no doubt 
was addressed to the Jews upon some point of their 
polity ; but what edification could it afford to any in 
the present day ? Trifling as this may appear now, 
such were the cogitations of my mind.§ I must say 
I was not a little surprised when the minister rose 

* Mark viii. 23, 24. f Special West. { Matt. xxiv. 

§ Our friends do not customarily, or as a matter of course, in 
their ministry, take texts in order to expound their meaning; but 
rather by their spiritual and practical application to illustrate and 
confirm their observations, whether in the line of counsel or doc- 
trine. 



14 



ADDRESS TO 



and repeated the words of the text which had taken 
hold of my mind. He described the winter season 
as a time of nature's dreariness and apparent dead- 
ness, when the sap and life of vegetation had retired 
to the root: a time attended with blackness and dark- 
ness ; when gloom, and cold, arid tempests prevailed. 
Such was at times our spiritual condition ; desolate 
and discouraging : but that this state was necessary 
to a growth in the root, &c. &c. His advice was, not 
to be discouraged, nor to let our flight be taken un- 
der this wintry dispensation: for the time would 
shortly come when it would be said, "Lo, the winter 
is over and gone ; the flowers appear on the earth, 
the time of the singing of birds is come ; and the 
voice of the turtle is heard in the land."* " They 
that sow in tears shall reap in joy." " He that goeth 
forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall 
doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his 
sheaves with him."t 

On the other portion of the text, viz., " neither on 
the Sabbath day," he remarked on the Sabbath as a 
day of rest ; that our true rest was in Christ ; advis- 
ing his hearers not to take up their rest short of the 
true rest ; that there is a rest to the people of God ; 
that many could not enter because of unbelief ; with 
more to the same effect. Although the direct mean- 
ing of the text may apply more strictly to the pro- 
phecy of our Saviour of those troublous times which 



* Cant. ii. 11, 12. 



f Ps. cxxvi. 5, 6. 



SINCERE SEEKERS. 



15 



were coming upon the Jews, yet it shows the beauty 
of Scripture, that beyond any other writing it pos- 
sesses an expansive signification, allowing to it a spi- 
ritual application without at all disparaging the literal 
or diminishing its historical or prophetic sense. And 
it is thus frequently applied by many spiritually- 
minded preachers of the present day, with a benefi- 
cial effect in regard to the various states of their 
hearers.* 

That such a coincidence should occur, and my se- 
cret thoughts and doubts be thus answered, appeared 
marvellous, but I have since learned, that other seek- 
ing minds as well as mine have been thus met and 
spoken to. 

Experience somewhat of this nature in the primi- 
tive age of the church might have induced the Apos- 
tle Paul in addressing his fellow- disciples at Corinth 
(respecting a practice obtainingt amongst them), to 
say, "But if all prophesy, and there come in one who 
believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of 
all, he is judged of all : and thus are the secrets of 
his heart made manifest ; and so falling down on his 
face (or humbling himself), he will worship God, and 
report, that God is in you of a truth."! This is oft- 

*" Scripture faith is not a mere believing of historical things up- 
on testimonies only ; but a certain higher and diviner power in the 
soul, that peculiarly correspondeth with Deity P — Dr. Cudworth. 

f Speaking with tongues, and his objecting thereto in the 
manner there practised. 

{ 1 Cor. xiv. 25. 



16 



ADDRESS TO 



times the effect of true spiritual ministry, it answers 
that of God in the hearts of the hearers as life to life; 
it is this ministry which is accompanied with a truly 
baptizing power, and the Gospel thus spiritually 
preached becomes to them that believe, the power of 
God unto salvation. 

William Penn, writing on this subject to one of 
his opponents, says, " As face answers to face in a 
glass, so we say and know, the Spirit and Scripture 
answer each other." " And therefore, the comforta- 
ble evidence of a Christian man, is the testimony of 
the Spirit of God within him, and the Scriptures of 
truth without him." 

This has been my object in the following work : 
to set forth the agreement of the Spirit and of Holy 
Scripture in relation to the great work of faith and of 
the knowledge of God. Our blessed Lord referred 
to the Scripture prophecies in proof of his divine mis- 
sion, and it may be said that the whole of the Scrip- 
tures have reference to him, not only as to his per- 
sonal appearance amongst us, but also as regards his 
spiritual reign in us and over us to the end of time ; 
to such it becomes as a book written within and 
without. 

I am aware that my method has been different 
from many former writers on the truths of Christian- 
ity, who have thought it right to lay the foundation 
for the reception of divine truth by elaborately prov- 
ing the truth of Scripture from historical and other 
evidences of an outward nature, and I have no doubt 



SINCERE SEEKERS. 



17 



but the labours of such have been blessed in this 
way, and will remain a standing evidence of value, 
which many may refer to with advantage, when their 
minds have become disposed with sufficient serious- 
ness to examine such proofs unbiassed by precon- 
ceived opinions.* But, this method did not much 
comport with my views, seeing so much has been 
ably written in this way by persons eminent for their 
talents, and every way better qualified for such an 
undertaking. Peculiar experience seemed to lead 
me to adopt the mode which the title of the work be- 
speaks : viz., to " vindicate the principles of Christi- 
anity" rather than to establish any outward evidence: 
and to show to inquiring minds and to those who are 
halting as between two opinions, the effects resulting 
from such principles when allowed freely to operate : 
and that no other way which man may devise can 
possibly produce the same results. 

When by the efficacy of those principles such are 
brought to Christ, their feelings may be similar to 
those of the men of Samaria to the woman who had 

* " The external evidence is to those who have to teach the 
people, and to answer gainsayers, of great importance ; and is of 
importance to all, so far as it is within the reach of all, which some 
of it certainly is ; but the internal evidence is the seal ; and till 
that is applied and fixed, faith will be found to fluctuate, and the 
mind be led to waver, by the first ingenious objector, who may 
have recourse to specious learning, to plausible sophistry, or even 
to burlesque and ridicule." — Vicesimus Knox, D.D. ; Christian 
Philosophy. 



18 



ADDRESS TO 



been with the Saviour at Jacob's well, and whom she 
had invited to come and see : when they said to her 
" now we believe, not because of thy saying : for we 
have heard him ourselves, and know that this is in- 
deed the Christ, the Saviour of the world."* 

Having thus explained my object in this little 
work, I think it will be readily seen by the reader, 
that my mode of accomplishing this by appealing to 
inward evidence, is not in any manner opposed to, 
but in confirmation of, the written word : for I will 
here affirm, that it is to that outward mode of instruc- 
tion, as given forth by the inspiration of the Holy 
Ghost, that we are indebted for a more perfect know- 
ledge of Christ, and of the Holy Spirit. The Scrip- 
tures are indeed " able to make wise unto salvation " 
(but with this addition, as guarded by the apostle), 
" through faith in Christ Jesus." When thus opened 
to our understandings by the Divine Spirit, life will 
indeed answer to life. 

Being then thus favoured, in having committed to 
us these "oracles of God,"— these written legacies of 
divine knowledge ; let us walk consistent therewith ; 
worthy of our vocation : so shall we commend these 
sacred writings to the hearts of all, and even unto the 
understandings of heathen nations, inasmuch as for 
them, as well as for ourselves, Christ died, as those 
Scriptures plainly declare, — " He tasted death for 
every man, and gave himself a ransom for all ; to be 
testified in due time."f 

* John iv. 42. f 1 Tim - «• 6 - 



SINCERE SEEKERS. 



19 



Now as much has been said by the deist on follow- 
ing nature and reason, and much by the christian on 
following Scripture and on following Christ; it is my 
intention to examine the fundamental principles of 
religion under these heads, in the following chapters. 



20 



ON FOLLOWING NATURE 



CHAPTER II. 

ON FOLLOWING NATURE AND REASON, INCLUDING A 
SHORT SKETCH OF THE PROGRESS OF INFIDELITY. 



" For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they 
allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, 
those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. While 
they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of cor- 
ruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he 
brought in bondage."— 2 Peter ii. 18, 19. 

The nominal christian and the deist stand both 
on the same unsafe ground ; both are liable to have 
their sandy foundations thrown down by the first 
subtle and hardy disputant ; the seeming contradic- 
tions of the Scriptures, their seeming inconsistency, 
multiplied by strained or artful constructions and 
perverted interpretations, are laid before the former ; 
his reason is appealed to, his faith is staggered ; he 
doubts, disputes, and then disbelieves. The deist is 
advised to follow nature and to follow reason; he be- 
gins to have an exalted opinion of his own understand- 
ing, and armed with his reason, he turns champion ; 
in turn he disputes on Scripture, nature, and natural 
things ; combines them with the moral and divine ; 



AND REASON. 



21 



takes a survey of natural and moral evils, but knows 
not how to account for them: yet, instead of humbly 
confessing his ignorance of these things, he pretends 
to trace their causes and effects, and boldly draws his 
conclusions. Thus his mind being crowded with 
contradictory notions and opinions, the fruits of a 
rash judgment, he is bewildered in doubts and dif- 
ficulties ; till the more confident disputant, the bold 
and daring atheist, with one stroke, levels him with 
the beasts that perish ; persuading him that the be- 
lief of a soul is rank superstition, that there is no 
other God than nature. Talking of the doctrine of 
necessity, &c, he appeals to his senses and his rea- 
son : the already too much doubting deist, to avoid 
what he deems superstition and fanaticism, falls into 
the dreadful vortex of impious atheism; scepticism 
takes hold of his mind, and all is darkness and con- 
fusion, like the chaos, before the Lord said "Let 
there be light : " and this comes to pass, " because 
that when they knew God, they glorified him not as 
God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their 
imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened ; 
professing themselves to be wise, they became fools."* 
But the man who happily unites religion with philo- 
sophy, is not the dupe either of infidelity, supersti- 
tion, or fanaticism. By philosophy, I mean not that 
sophistry and dogmatic scepticism which has of latet 



*Rom. i. 21,22. 
f Written originally about the time of the French Revolution. 



22 



ON FOLLOWING NATURE. 



assumed that name ; which reasons with the great- 
est daring, and labours to pull down the most sacred 
sanctions of religion, virtue, and morality ; but I 
mean the wisdom of a sound mind, conscious of the 
limited extent of its powers. With philosophy like 
this we may 

" Look through nature up to nature's God," 

and find all in harmony with his revealed word. 

" Read nature, nature is a friend to truth," 
and maybe considered as a large volume replete with 
instruction. I will confine myself to a few observa- 
tions. 

For instance, for the sake of analogy, let us con- 
sider the earth distinct from, and without the aid 
of cultivation ; what should we see for the most part 
but a wilderness of briars and brambles, a sponta- 
neous growth of wild and noxious weeds, a dreary 
waste of wild disorder? Thus it is with man, the 
epitome of nature ; until Christ, by his Spirit, burns 
up the heath and stubble, the briars, brambles, and 
noxious weeds of our wild nature, so that the goodly 
plant may grow up and bring forth fruit in due sea- 
son, to the glory of the great and good husbandman. 
We could no more raise ourselves from this fallen 
and degenerate state, than nature could raise itself 
into a paradise or a garden ; for it is God who must 
break up our flinty and stubborn nature, implant the 
seed of his own divine nature in us, and weed out 
everything which would impede its growth : that 



AND REASON'. 



•23 



which is required of the creature is, to be passive 
under the divine working, even as the earth is under 
the strokes of the tiller, being as clay in the hands of 
the potter, that the Lord may form and fashion him 
according to his divine will ; and if we get not from 
under his holy hand, he will, in his own time, make 
us more or less active instruments to his own eternal 
glory. 

Let us still pursue the analogy. The kingdom of 
heaven, in regard to us, is compared in Scripture 
to a grain of seed, and that it cometh not by 
outward observation, but is to be found within 
us ; that as a seed, though small, is capable of 
a growth, so also is the kingdom of righteousness ; 
and as a seed in the earth must be fostered by 
the influence of the sun, and mellowed by refresh- 
ing rains and softening dews, so that the germ may 
expand and enlarge itself till it becomes a plant, and 
by a continuance of these genial influences at length 
acquire fruit-bearing branches ; so also this seed of 
the kingdom must be refreshed in the soul by the 
continued influence of the Spirit of God, softened by 
the dew of heaven, and quickened and brought forth 
by the influence of divine love; like the natural plant 
the spiritual life can no longer be maintained, grow, 
and flourish, otherwise than while these blessed influ- 
ences continue to support it. If the Spirit of God 
breathe not upon it, if the showers of his grace de- 
scend not, if the warmth of his love continue not to 
invigorate, it must die as certainly as the natural 



24 



ON FOLLOWING NATURE 



plant, without the life-preserving power of the rain, 
air and sun. In this sense nature becomes our teach- 
er. How do the tender plants receive the mellowing 
moisture ! How do they inhale the refreshing air, 
and expand their leaves and blossoms to the genial 
warmth of the enlivening sun ! 

Let us be wise, and learn from these inanimate 
things to appreciate our greatest blessings. Ah! my 
friends, take the book of nature as it were in one 
hand, and the Scriptures in the other, but look to the 
Spirit of God for your guide, and you will then find 
many and striking analogies, each expounding the 
other, and the whole harmonizing together : but as 
the heaven exceeds the earth, so will all earthly 
figures fall short of the great design and mysteries 
that are there intended to be set forth ; yet God will 
reveal them in such portions to his creatures as their 
capacities or their spiritual natures may stand in 
need of. And here let me borrow another figure from 
nature to satisfy my reader : as the earth is made for 
men, and its fruits for the children of men, yet all do 
not live by the same kind of food, but according to 
their various tastes and appetites ; so the earth is 
furnished with variety and abundance, with which all 
are sustained and all are satisfied. Again, while 
some explore the cavern and dig deep in the bowels 
of the earth for rare and curious things, and bring 
forth hidden treasures to the admiration and benefit 
of mankind ; so others are equally delighted with the 
superficies of nature ; they seek for rare and curious 



AND REASON. 



•25 



plants, and by pains and diligence find out their na- 
tures and their virtues. Some are gifted with one 
desire, some with another, — thus the task of dis- 
covery is made easy and delightful, and the beauties 
of nature are brought to light, and manifested to the 
glory of its great and wonderful author, So may we 
say the Scriptures also are not designed for one de- 
scription of men before another ; but, like the great 
world, they are intended for all states and conditions 
according to their various capacities ; they contain 
instruction and food for every mind, milk for babes, 
and meat for those of stronger growth. Here some, 
like the miner above described, according to the ca- 
pacity that God has given him, dig deep for hidden 
treasures, and unravel the dark sayings of the wise; 
others are delighted with the analogies and instruc- 
tive allegories of Scripture ; while others again are 
delighted with its plain and moral instructions : one 
brings to light its inward riches, while another sets 
forth and magnifies its more prominent beauties : the 
plain way-faring man partakes of the fruits of the 
researches of both, and is thankful ; although the ex- 
tension of his capacity leads him to perceive nothing 
more than its moral and spiritual excellencies, he of- 
ten finds acuriouspleasure in the discoveries of others, 
and derives therefrom a secret benefit. Thus, all 
move in their various allotments, and God is glorified. 
Would it not be unreasonable to reject the world, and 
despise its manifold riches, because we are not indi- 
vidually capable of enjoying the whole, or grasping 

c 



26 



ON FOLLOWING NATURE 



the whole circle of its sciences ? Alike unreasonable 
is that man who rejects the Scriptures, because he 
finds not a taste for the whole, or is incapable of fa- 
thoming their complete and vast design * 

It is said that Dr. Halley, a celebrated astronomer, 
but an avowed unbeliever, one day throwing out some 
indecent reflections against Christianity, in the pre- 
sence of Sir Isaac Newton, that great man stopped 
him short with this just rebuke : " Dr. Halley, I am 
always glad to hear you when you speak about astro- 
nomy or the mathematics, because you have studied 
and well understand them ; but you have not studied 
Christianity, and, I who have, am certain you know 
nothing of the matter." May not the same reproof 
be applicable to many of a similar disposition, who 
reject the Scriptures through a culpable ignorance of 
their contents and of their excellencies ? The Scrip- 
tures are like nature ; the study and knowledge of 
them give pleasure, and at the same time they in- 
struct and improve the mind; but our researches 
must be made in a becoming spirit in reference to the 
talent or capacity we have received ; not judging 
that which is beyond the sphere of our present com- 
prehension, but moving in our respective allotments, 
desiring Divine illumination therein ; then the study 
of Scripture will far surpass the study of nature, inas 
much as the latter, unless thus assisted, maketh wise 
only to our temporal benefit; but the Scripture 



* Appendix (B). 



AND REASON. 



27 



maketh wise to the salvation of the soul through faith 
in Christ Jesus.* 

" Know thyself," was the saying of a heathen 
sage ; and it would be well for us to examine a little 
the extent of our own capacities, and what the true 
state of our nature is, and wherein they excel the 
rest of the creatures : whether the excellencies we are 
capable of, are of ourselves, so that we shall glory in 
self ; or whether they are not the gift of a superior 
power, who should receive the praise of all our vir- 
tues as a reflection of his own glory ; even as the 
world reflects the light emanating from the sun. God 
is jealous of his honour, and will not give his glory to 
another, nor his praise to images. Many are the 
opinions respecting our own nature ; and the most 
opposite conclusions have been drawn according to 
the different mediums through which that nature has 
been contemplated. Some have represented man as 
a mere animal, because he is brought forth, is nou- 
rished, and dies like other animals ; and they have 
endeavoured to prove that the brute creation are 
guided by reason in their various actions ; and that 
that which we call reason in man is the same in nature 
that which we term instinct in the brute, only they 
admit we have it in a superior degree. Others again, 
over-proud of their rationality (seeing man endowed 
with strong inventive faculties, formed to embrace 
things past, present, and to come, that he is enabled 



* Appendix (C). 

c2 



28 



ON FOLLOWING NATURE 



to observe and compare, and to judge of the analogy 
and fitness of things, and to weigh the consequen- 
ces or the effects of causes) have exalted him to 
a being independent of the Deity ; and have made 
him proud and arrogant of that faculty which God 
has thought good to enrich his nature with, in order 
to make it superior to all his other creatures ; and 
which should be enjoyed, like all other blessings, with 
humble and grateful praise to the heavenly dis- 
penser. 

In looking at outward nature, let us not overlook 
our own. We read that God has made man " a little 
lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory 
and with honour." Let us consider that He, who 
hath endowed us with reason, has also power to be- 
stow upon us a gift far superior, even that of his own 
free Spirit, not to supplant or set aside, but to illu- 
mine and direct our reason,* which, as received and 
lived in, is the consummation and perfection of our 
nature ; for our nature may be considered as three- 
fold, wherein the animal, rational, and celestial (or 

* Dr. Watson, of Landaff, says " There may he doctrines 
above reason, but nothing which is evidently contrary to reason, 
can ever be justly considered as a part of the Christian dispen- 
sation." 

" Between reason and revelation there is a real difference, as 
between vision and illumination : we cannot see (though we may 
have a capacity of seeing) without light ; and on the other hand, 
light is of no use where a capacity of seeing is wanting."— 
Arscott. 



AND REASON. 



29 



spiritual), are united. The divine Spirit is the free 
gift of God through Jesus Christ to ennoble our nature 
and restore it to its original state of perfection, as de- 
scribed by Moses, when he said, " God created man 
in his own image." 

Dr. Watts has remarked in one of his sermons, 
"that in the creation God hath joined an angel and 
animal together to make up a man, and expects that 
the angel should govern the animal in all its natures 
and propensities, and confine it within the rules of 
religion and the social life ; " but another writer hath 
observed more to our purpose : " that that Divine 
principle in the mind of man may be denominated 
the representative of the Supreme Being in the go- 
vernment of the human intellect, admitting of no 
rival or competitor in the administration, but expect- 
ing that the evil principle should be deposed from 
his dictatorial office, and brought into a state of sub- 
jection." If we consider man following the bent of 
his natural corrupt inclinations, living merely to self 
and sense, looking for nothing beyond this present 
life, such we pronounce merely animal. 

If we consider him further, and see him weighing 
the pernicious consequences arising from such cu- 
pidity, and hence regulating those desires, and living 
a more social and moral life, yet still actuated only 
by a motive of self, considering " self-love and social 
as the same," not influenced by any piety to God ; 
such an one may be considered as a rational and mo- 
ral being : but if we see his mind irradiated with the 



30 



ON FOLLOWING NATURE 



light of life, to see his former state (as above de- 
scribed) as a state of death and darkness, and of 
alienation and separation from his Creator ; if we see 
him shun every appearance of evil, denying self of 
its sensual gratifications, taking up the cross to his 
natural passions and propensities, loving even his 
enemies, and doing good to those that hate him ; thus 
giving up the pleasures of a sensual life, anticipating 
by contemplation and meditation a more glorious ha- 
bitation, eternal in the heavens, which passeth not 
away, and all this in the spirit of divine love, ascrib- 
ing no merit to self, but giving all glory to God, 
whose right it is, saying, " Nevertheless I live, yet 
not I, but Christ liveth in me ; and the life which I 
now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of 
God, who loved me, and gave himself for me;"* 
c€ By the grace of God I am what I am : thanks be to 
God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord 
Jesus Christ :"t such an one we call a perfect man, 
a true Christian ; being regenerated to newness of 
life by the operation of the Holy Spirit in the heart. 

The first state is brutish, and those that are in it 
hate reproof; the second is rational, and however 
superior to the former, or however praiseworthy and 
plausible such a state may appear in the sight 
of men, yet without the divine principle, it leads 
to pride, cunning, and ambition; and before God, 
who knoweth that the heart of man is vain, it will eer- 



* Gal. ii. 20. 



f 1 Cor. xv. 57. 



AND REASON. 



31 



tainly stand in condemnation, unless his proferred 
grace and free spirit is received to redeem, to sanc- 
tify, and to save, by its operating power as anew lea- 
ven to leaven the whole lump into a new creature in 
Christ Jesus : then he will stand perfect before God 
in body, soul, and spirit, and then the prayer of 
our Lord, will be accomplished ; " Sanctify them 
through thy truth : thy word is truth. As thou 
hast sent me into the w r orld, so have I also sent 
them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify 
myself, that they also might be sanctified through the 
truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them 
also which shall believe on me through their word ; 
that they all may be one ; as thou, Father, art in 
me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, 
that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 
And the glory which thou gavest me I have given 
them ; that they may be one, even as we are one : I 
in them, and thou in me, that they may be made 
perfect in one ; and that the world may know that 
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou 
hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom 
thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that 
they may behold my glory, which thou hast given 
me : for thou lovedst me before the foundation of 
the world. Oh ! Righteous Father, the world hath 
not known thee ; but I have known thee, and these 
have known that thou hast sent me, and I have de- 
clared unto them thy name, and will declare it ; that 



32 



ON FOLLOWING NATURE 



the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in 
them, and I in them."* 

The above prayer is so clear a proof (to those who 
believe the Scriptures) of the eternal divinity of 
Christ, of the divine union of the Father and the Son, 
and, through the power and virtue of the Son, of the 
union of all who believe and receive him, that I could 
not well avoid transcribing the whole ; and who, after 
seriously considering these endearing desires for our 
welfare, would not desire that such a Christ should 
be their Christ, that such a God should be their God ? 
But to proceed : one of the greatest champions for 
deism says, " Man is like a vessel tossed upon the 
wide ocean ; his passions are the sails, and though 
they may sometimes chance to overturn the vessel, 
or run her on sands, yet the vessel could not sail 
without them." And this is the miserable and uncer- 
tain condition the followers of nature are left in, ac- 
cording to this writer ; but a Christian sees the ne- 
cessity of having a skilful and heavenly pilot on 
board, to guide and govern the vessel, and regulate 
those sails ; and this heavenly pilot has not only 
power to guide and govern the vessel, but also to still 
the tempest. " And he arose, and rebuked the winds, 
and said unto the sea, Peace, be still ; and the wind 
ceased, and there was a great calm."f And this is a 
certain truth, that if Christ had not the power 
to speak peace and to still the tempest, he could not 

* John xvii, 17 to the end, f Mark iv. 39, 



AND REASON. 



33 



be our Redeemer. This is the reason we put our 
trust and confidence in Hiru, because we know that 
He is able to save, and that to the very uttermost, all 
those who come unto him by faith.* 

But the deists say, we are not without a guide, we 
have the light of reason for our guide, which is suffi- 
cient to regulate the passions if we abide by its dic- 
tates. This brings me to consider more particularly 
the insufficiency of reason, as a guide, of which 
I shall say a few words. The poet, who seems 
to have thought somewhat after the manner of these 
deists concerning reason, has these words : — 

" Oh, why did heaven leave man so weak defence, 
To trust frail reason with the rule of sense ; 
Tis over-pois'd and kicked up in the air, 
While sense weighs down the scale and keeps it there." 

Thus it is with many deists, who mistake the light 
of reason for the only and true light ; but, after a while, 
seeing its insufficiency, impiously begin to impeach 
the wisdom of their Creator. But Christ alone is de- 
clared to be the " true light which lighteth every 
man that cometh into the world." He is the Sun of 
Righteousness, whose animating life-giving power can 
alone quicken and invigorate every virtue in the 

* " A person who thinks to advance heavenward, without Di- 
vine grace, is like a vessel at sea without a compass. In such a 
case, of what avail would the most correct chart in the world be 
to the mariner ? " — G. D. 

c3 



34 ON FOLLOWING NATURE 

soul. " Head knowledge, and heart experience, are 
not always concomitants. Reason may perceive a 
thing to be wrong, both in its cause and effect, 
but unless the will is freed from the slavery of the 
passions, it is always liable to counteract conviction 
and incur the reproaches of the conscience."* Yes, 
our reason is more frequently a follower of the pas- 
sions than a guide to them ; if our passions are 
vitiated and corrupted, our reason is so likewise, and 
is often brought to excuse our evil actions; often 
made to pander to our lusts and appetites instead of 
being a controller of thejn. How different are the 
prudential reasonings of the miser, compared with 
the licentious reasonings of the profligate ! In fact 
reason oftener makes men artful than honest; and 
amuses the head, but does not amend the heart. It 
is not through any deficiency in the reasoning facul- 
ties, that we frequently see the rich, powerful, and 
learned, lost to every practical virtue ; men of the 
greatest abilities have often the most depraved hearts, 
and are not unfrequently crying up reason as a God 
in their very debauches. But, 

" If wrong our hearts, our heads are right in vain."f 

It may be objected, that this is the abuse of rea- 
son ; I admit it is ; and also a proof of its in- 
sufficiency, and shows that something else is wanting 
to change and influence the heart, and to enlighten 

* G. D. f Young. 



AND REASON. 



35 



our reason before it can really benefit our states and 
conditions, as the following extract from an enlight- 
ened author will show, who justly remarks, " For in 
those seasons, when custom or the passions, or both, 
impel strongly to evil, and when reason so far from 
standing firm is known to side with the enemy, it is 
indeed truly desirable that some power should inter- 
vene to rescue from an overthrow. When tempera- 
ment meanwhile is affording its ardours, which hurry 
on to gratification ; or its langours, which disincline 
for virtuous exertions ; is it not also truly desirable 
that there should be found some effectual check, or 
some effectual incitement : or, to use the simple ener- 
getic language of the prophet when a man is disposed 
to turn aside to the right hand or the left, that 
he should hear a voice to instruct him (as a guide, 
saying) this is the way ?"* 

Similar to the above is the language of another 
writer before quoted, who says, " Though reason is 
the faculty which distinguishes men from brutes (and 
a noble endowment it is), yet, in the work of religion, 
it is too much the slave of the will, and the dupe of 
the passions, to be trusted as a guide ; to promote or 
acquire moral rectitude, recourse must be had to 
something beyond — something which is to the mind, 
what the mind is to the body, — a superior agent, or 

* Joseph Gurney Bevan (an elder of the Society of Friends) 
in a Tract entitled ' Thoughts on Reason and Revelation,' c. ii. 



36 



ON FOLLOWING NATURE 



(if this will please better) a rule for reason to step 
by."* 

Reason is too often the servant of the heart ; and 
what the heart loves, that reason contends for ; and 
what the heart has no inclination to, that reason of- 
ten objects against. In accordance with this truth, 
the Royal Psalmist supplicates the Almighty in 
words like these : " Create in me a clean heart, O 
God, and renew a right spirit within me,"f knowing 
that "out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, 
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false-witness, blasphe- 
mies \ "J that " the preparation of the heart in man 
is from the Lord," that " by mercy and truth ini- 
quity is purged : and by the fear of the Lord men de- 
part from evil ; "§ and that when thus purged and puri- 
fied that it may then be said, " the good man out of the 
good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is 
good," as fruits of his regenerated and purified mind. 
It is then that his reason (being no longer hurried by 
his irregular passions) is governed, and gradually ad- 
vanced and illuminated by that wisdom from above 
that does all things well ; for religion is not against 
reason, but a rectifier of it. Reason is a blessing, 
when kept in its proper place, and used under a due 
influence ; but there are things necessary for a man 
to know which are not attainable but by divine intel- 
ligence. There is a vain philosophy, which leads 
men out of their depth, into intricate inquiries con- 

* G. D. f Psalm xli. 10. % Matt. xv. 19. § Prov. xvi. 6. 



A.ND REASON. 



37 



cerning the essence, principles, and properties of di- 
vine things, with the origin of evil, &c. which are be- 
yond the province of poor fallible reason ; poor, but 
yet proud ; positive in the midst of doubt, yet doubt- 
ful of the plainest truths if not discovered by its own 
light. Let no man " think of himself more highly than 
he ought to think ; but let him " think soberly, accord- 
ing as God hath dealt to every man the measure of 
faith " 5* for, as saith the Apostle, " The natural man 
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they 
are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, 
because they are spiritually discerned ; "f the truth 
of which is manifested by the labyrinth of difficulties 
which man has brought himself into, in the research 
of those things in his own wisdom, ever learning, 
and never able to come to the knowledge of the 
truth. X 

A religion made by philosophers would only be a 

* Rom. xii. 3. f 1 Cor. ii. 14. 

X "When we read the various and often opposite opinions of 
philosophers, on subjects which their differences prove are out of 
their reach, and take into view the discordant interpretations of 
pious persons on the simple doctrines of Christianity, with the al- 
most countless parties into which their attempts have betrayed 
and divided them ; how can any judicious, impartial mind but be 
convinced, that something beyond human reason is wanting, as a 
guide to the mind in its pursuit of truth ; and that, till this some- 
thing is discovered and submitted to, we shall continue to bewil- 
der ourselves in our researches, and never arrive at a solution of 
our doubts. Reason, as an umpire on these occasions, has hitherto 



38 



ON FOLLOWING NATURE 



philosopher's religion ; but God, whose mercy is 
over all his works, who hath no respect to persons or 
to the wisdom of men, will not shut out his poor and 
simple ones ; as it is said, the way-faring man, though 
a fool, cannot err therein ; but, because of its sim- 
plicity, the wisdom of man is too proud to accept it, 
his towering speculation has made him overlook it. 
For it is not to be found in lofty imaginations, but to 
be sought in a lowly and humble mind, and for this 
our blessed Lord thanked his Father, saying, "I thank 
.thee, .0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because 
thou hast hid these things from the wise and pru- 
dent, and hast revealed them to babes ; even so, Fa- 
ther, for so it seemed good in thy sight."* 

Thus, the wisdom of God is revealed to the humble 
and dependant mind, and withheld from the worldly 
wise ; and wherefore ? Lest they should take the 
glory to themselves, and because God's love is more 
universal ; if it were not so, it would be confined to a 
few speculative reasoners, and such as were not skill- 
ed in logic would lose the benefit and blessing of 
religion.f 



been resorted to in vain — its explications have needed to be ex- 
plained — its decisions have been undecisive ; and if its votaries 
harmonize at all, it is in confessing that their results are all short 
of the truth." — G. D. 

* Matt. xi. 25, 26. 
f 6 Shaw's Immanuel/ 



AND REASON. 



39 



"The things which are seen are temporal;" the light 
of our reason may fathom visible and natural things, 
because they are obvious to our senses ; by it 
we may analyze nature to discover its principles and 
properties, in order to improve them to our conveni- 
ence and advantage. 

" The earth hath (the Lord) given to the children 
of men, v * given to mankind in common, to improve, 
cultivate, and enjoy ; here our reason may prove the 
best of our temporal blessings ; if guided and govern- 
ed by divine wisdom, it would moderate our enjoy- 
ments and pursuits, and diffuse beneficial comforts 
and conveniences to our fellow-creatures, which 
would produce an exchange of endearments that 
would be a cement of affection to bind mankind in 
unity and love. But through the pride of man, this 
intended blessing is turned into a curse ; for, by re- 
jecting the guidance and government of divine wis- 
dom and giving place to the selfish dispositions of 
nature, he inverts the order of things : for by people's 
emulations, contentions, seditions, heresies, murders, 
drunkenness, revellings, &c. (which are some of 
those poisonous fruits which the Apostle calls the 
works of the flesh), they have brought discord, 
misery, desolation, and a numerous train of evils upon 
the earth ; which all the laws of man, political and 
moral, are unable to restrain, although laws upon 
laws are framed to check the inordinacy of licentious- 



* Ps. cxv. 16. 



40 



ON FOLLOWING NATURE 



ness. It was the saying of a great statesman,* that 
" The less restraint there is within, the more there 
must be without, for it is impossible (says he) in the 
eternal nature of things for men of intemperate minds 
to be free ; their passions forge their fetters."t Now 
a true Christian is not under the rule of the law or 
the rule of reason : yet he is a fulfiller of them both. 
But mark ; the source of their accomplishment must 
proceed from the Divine Spirit : for the fruits of the 
Spirit are in all goodness and righteousness and 
truth, and they are " Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, 
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance : 
against such there is no law ; "X n °r are they against 
reason, for a Christian's reason is not made void, but 
established ; not in subtlety, but in simplicity sub- 
jected to the direction of the Lord's Holy Spirit, to 
whom he hath in a measure given up his body, a liv- 
ing sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which is his rea- 
sonable service ; then may we say, it is a pleasant 
thing for faith to walk hand in hand with reason, 
when mercy and truth thus meet together, and right- 
eousness and peace kiss each other. 

The things which are not seen are eternal, and it 

* E. Burke. 

f " Laws regulate only certain actions ; religion embraces them 
all. Laws restrain only the external man ; religion informs and 
regulates the heart. Laws address themselves only to the citizen ; 
religion lays hold of, and presides over the man."— Portalis. 
X Gal. v. 22. 



AND REASON. 



41 



must be the eternal divine light which must guide us 
in search of heavenly, invisible, and spiritual things ; 
and in order to become acquainted with this divine 
light we must come down from the mountain of self- 
exaltation and pride, into the low valley of self-abase- 
ment, meekness, and humility : for it is said, " The 
meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he 
teach His way."* 

To conclude this head ; whatever is said concern- 
ing nature and reason, is not meant to depreciate ei- 
ther, but to show that the power and heavenly leaven 
of the Spirit of God is wanting, to renovate the one, 
and inform the other ; even to quicken and invi- 
gorate both, that each may bring forth fruits to the 
glory of God, and the comfort and happiness of the 
creature. 

We see enough of beauty, order, harmony, and de- 
sign, in outward nature, to admire the goodness and 
wisdom of the Creator ; and herein are the wisdom 
and goodness of God manifested to us, that in pro- 
portion as we become obedient to His righteous 
requirings, so is our situation in outward nature im- 
proved ; and in proportion as we yield ourselves up 
to the purifying power of Christ, and our reason be- 
comes enlightened by his divine wisdom, we are 
made instruments in the hands of His redeeming love 
to the improving of outward nature, and diminishing 
of its evils. 



* Ps. xxv. 9. 



42 



ON FOLLOWING NATURE. 



But when our reason is under the influence of 
pride, ambition, and lust, it then becomes a bane in- 
stead of a blessing. How far natural and moral evil 
are connected, it is not perhaps in the power of man 
to determine ; natural evils are the consequent curse 
entailed by man's disobedience, and we now plainly 
see, that the evils of nature increase with our moral 
turpitude. The means of happiness which God hath 
placed in man, are great. Oh, that the mighty and 
exalted ones of this world would but act under the 
influence of His Spirit, which alone can tranquillize 
the turbulence of the human passions. 

Christ is all; in Him are all the treasures of wisdom 
and knowledge ; and the observance of His law 
written on the heart would restore peace and har- 
mony to the universe.* 

* " If men of the world and men of learning will not interpose 
to obstruct the Divine energy, we shall see it produce its genuine 
effects in all their vigour and maturity, as well in the world of 
grace as of nature. A secret operation gives life and growth to 
the tree, and so will it to the human soul. " I am the vine, ye are 
the branches," says our Saviour: the branches will wither and de- 
cay, if the sap flows not to them from the vine," — Dr. Lucas, 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE, 



43 



CHAPTER III. 

ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal 
life, and they are they which testify of me.— John v. 39. 

It has been already observed that there are many 
things necessary for man to know, which are not at- 
tainable but by divine intelligence, though there is a 
strong desire inherent in the human mind to search 
into them ; and if man were but in a fit disposition to 
receive them, God, in his goodness and mercy, would 
not leave the mind in darkness concerning those 
things necessary to its present and future well-being. 
But man, having departed in his own will from the 
will and command of his Creator, rebelled against the 
light, and fell ; he died to a heavenly and spiritual 
life the day he disobeyed the Divine will, and awoke 
to all the vanities of a sensual one ; he can only ob- 
tain that divine life, light, and knowledge, by return- 
ing ; and there is no other way to return, but deny- 



44 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



ing self, taking up the cross, and following Christ, 
who is the door of the sheep-fold, the way, the truth, 
and the life. 

The Apostle Peter, speaking of Paul's spiritual 
writings, says, there " are some things hard to be un- 
derstood, which they that are unlearned (or, as in the 
original, unteachable) and unstable, wrest, as they do 
also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruc- 
tion ; "* because they seek in their own unsanctified 
and carnal minds, which are at enmity with God : 
the sword of whose power is placed against them in 
this state, and it is thus they wrest the precious good 
which is in Scripture, to their own destruction ; and 
this has ever been the case when man has gone about 
in his own wisdom, to elucidate and explain the 
things of God. Much divine knowledge, particu- 
larly in the Old Testament, is veiled under types, 
figures, laws, and ordinances, and it is declared that 
" the natural man receiveth not the things of the 
Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness unto him ; 
neither can he know them, because they are spirit- 
ually discerned."t 

" The prophecy came not in old time by the will 
of man ; but holy men of God spake as they were 
moved by the Holy Ghost," and no prophecy of the 
Scripture is of any private (or natural) interpretation. J 

It may be queried by some, are we then to defer 
our search in this volume until our understandings are 



* 2 Peter iii. 16. f 1 Cor. ii. 14. + 2 Peter i. 20, 21. 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



45 



opened by the radiations of divine grace ? I answer 
no, for they are often made a means thereto. From 
a feeling sense of the value and importance of these 
sacred writings, as the only authorized record of 
God's will, it is our duty as well as privilege to seek 
into them ; and holy men, who have experienced 
their efficacy, have been often endued by a principle 
of love, as well as from a conviction of duty, to recom- 
mend them to their fellow-men ; and, in accordance 
with the testimony of such men, and from my own 
experience, I would recommend them to be read 
with a mind disposed to yield to the conviction that 
may be produced by a candid perusal of them, ac- 
companied with desires, raised to God for light to 
understand them. 

The Apostle Peter, in reference to the confirmation 
of prophecy, which he, in company with some of his 
fellow-labourers had received, alluding to what they 
had seen and heard in the person of Jesus Christ 
when he was glorified in the mount, with other cor- 
roborating circumstances, says, u We have also a 
more sure word of prophecy ; whereunto ye do well 
that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a 
dark place* until the day dawn, and the day-star 

* I follow the common translation ; but may observe that in- 
stead of " We have a more sure word of prophecy," some would 
render the passage " We have more sure the prophetic wordy 
They allege that this is a literal translation, and that the sense 
is clear ; the comparison more sure and more confirmed, relating 



46 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



arise in your hearts,"* which seems to imply that he 
wished them to be received on the credit of their tes- 
timony, until God should more fully reveal them by 
his light and spirit, which alone can fully unfold the 
true sense of Scripture unto us : and we have it re- 
corded of Timothy, that he had known the Scriptures 
from a child ; which, says the Apostle, are able 
to make wise unto salvation through faith in Christ 
Jesus : so that there is ample encouragement to 
search the sacred writings. 

But may I not appeal even to those of my readers 
who are not yet prepared to receive the Bible as a 
Divine revelation, whether when they begin to read 
any history they do not do it with a view to receive 
information ; and is it not the same with them when 
they peruse works on any branch of natural know- 
ledge ? Is it not then equally incumbent on them, 
when they read the sacred Scriptures, that it should 
be with a mind disposed to receive instruction ? And 
seeing this knowledge relates to the salvation of the 
soul ; that these Scriptures testify of Jesus Christ, 
who is described therein as the eternal life, and 
that this life is the light of men ; that He is the 
Alpha and the Omega of the Old and the New Testa- 
ment, though veiled as before observed under the 
types and allegories of the Old, yet fully discovered 



to the increased confirmation which the primitive Christians had 
of prophecy by having seen its accomplishment. 

* 2 Peter i. 19. 



ON FOLLOWING NATUEE. 



47 



to us by the New : — seeing then that this is so much 
more important to us than the study of any natural 
things can be, with what temper, with what disposi- 
tion, should we sit down to peruse this sublime, this 
soul-instructing work ? How consistent is it with 
reason, and with the nature of things, that we should 
humble ourselves in spirit before that Being, whom 
we are taught to believe is the author of this divine 
book ! The famous John Locke has not been ashamed 
to set his seal to this important truth ; for speaking 
of the divine authority of the Scripture, he says, " It 
has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth 
without any mixture of error for its matter." And 
Sir William Jones, a man no way inferior in erudi- 
tion to John Locke, also gives his testimony in favor 
of the Scriptures in the following terms : " I have 
carefully and regularly perused these Holy Scrip- 
tures, and am of opinion that the volume, inde- 
pendently of its divine origin, contains more true 
sublimity, more exquisite beauty, more pure mo- 
rality, more important history, and finer strains both 
of poetry and eloquence, than can be collected from 
all other books in whatever age or language they may 
have been written." These testimonies from such 
eminent philosophers should be of some weight in 
the scale of rationality, and abate the pride of some 
reasoners in the present day, who must themselves 
acknowledge that if we are in an error in this par- 
ticular, we not only err with these eminent philoso- 
phers, but with many other learned men, both of this, 



48 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



as well as other countries, who have alike borne tes- 
timony to the divine source and excellency of this 
book. 

The Scriptures are not written in the temporizing 
spirit of man, their purity opposes his favourite pur- 
suits and gratifications ; therefore, there is in the na- 
ture of man, a disposition to reject them.* A writer 
hath observed, that " If the Scriptures had been more 
literal and more adapted to our reason and natural 
understandings, they would be more generally re- 
ceived, but (says he) less reverenced ; " but unless 
we receive them as the oracles of God, we shall 
receive them to little profit. Had the Scriptures 
been only of human origin, however excellent, where 
would have been their stability ? If man, as man, had 
a right to propound a law or ordinance, the same 
right would remain in man to abrogate or alter 
it ; therefore they are not to be considered as the 
work of man, but as founded upon that immutable 
basis, upon that unchangeable rock, against which 
nothing will be suffered to prevail ; their perfections 
are such, that they admit neither of addition nor di- 
minution from man. 

It is declared in the Book of Revelations, " If any 
man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto 
him the plagues that are written in this book ; and 
if any man shall take away from the words of the 



* Appendix (F). 
f See ' Gospel not received.' Appendix (G). 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 49 

book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part 
out of the book of life which expressions may also 
apply to the other books of Scripture, at least they 
should deter us from a presumption of this sort in re- 
spect to any part thereof. Although this may appear 
a hard saying, yet, as God is wise in all his ways, and 
perfect in all his works, we have to rejoice that these 
testimonies, whereon our faith is to be founded, and 
our hopes grounded, are so strictly guarded. Although 
the Scriptures may be as a sealed book (in respect to 
their virtue and excellence) to the vain and to the 
hardened mind, yet, to those who are of an upright 
mind and humble spirit, there is much encourage- 
ment to search them ; for without doubt, if we search 
in a truly humble and reverent frame, God will meet 
us there, and with a ray of his light will show us a 
portion of his ways sufficient to encourage us to pro- 
ceed ; and as patience and humility are maintained, 
he will endow us with a larger portion of intellectual 
vision, compared to that day-star from above, until 
the fulness of light, even the Sun of Righteousness 
himself, shall arise as with healing in his wings, when 
we shall not only see and understand, but the Scrip- 
ture balm will be applied to the healing of our souls. 
But the nominal Christian is not likely to profit much 
by the Scriptures, although he may think he beholds 
many good and profitable things in them, whilst he 
rests in the letter, which is in itself dead ; he being 
like the outward Jews, of whom the apostle says, 
" But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the 

D 



50 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



veil is upon their heart:" nevertheless, continueth the 
Apostle, " when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil 
shall be taken away."* t And if the nominal Chris- 
tian is not likely to comprehend the spiritual sense of 
Scripture, because he seeks it in his own wisdom, and 
rejects the only light which can expound it to his 
eternal benefit, how is the criticising deist to compre- 
hend it, who reads it with a prejudiced mind ? If it 
be veiled from the Christian, who is not sufficiently 
inward and humble, how much more so must it be 
from the proud carping spirit of the deist ! But, if 
these say the Gospel is hid, "it is hid to them that are 
lost, (mark), in whom the god of this world hath 
blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the 
light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the 
image of God, should shine unto them."J § The 

* 2 Cor. iii. 15, 16. 

f " There is a Spiritual understanding ; an understanding 
irradiated by divine grace, necessary to comprehend the things of 
the Spirit, without which a man is scarcely better qualified to 
judge of the Gospel, as it is Grace and Truth, than the blind 
to decide on the beauty of a picture. He may descant on words 
and syllables. He may view the letter of the Scriptures as a 
critic, a logician, an historian ; but there is a veil on his heart, 
w r hich prevents him from perceiving that witness or testimony of 
the spirit, which carries conviction, in defiance of all difficulties 
and obscurities in the letter. The Gospel is the ministration of 
Spirit and life, and the power of God unto salvation." — Vicesi- 
mus Knox, D.D., Master of Tunbridge School, fkc. 

I 2 Cor. iv. 4. 

I § Appendix (H). — Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man. 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



51 



vain and crooked serpentine wisdom, which is the 
wisdom of this world, is the very opposite of 
godly wisdom ; it begins in pride and fulness of self, 
and must end in destruction; it cast angels down from 
heaven and man out of Paradise, and ever remains to 
be a wall of partition between God and man ; for God 
beholds the proud afar off, but he giveth grace unto the 
humble ; and if man ever finds true wisdom, it must be 
by returning to that which he has departed from, 
namely, the fear of the Lord ; it is then that Christ 
takes possession of the soul, and by his power work- 
ing therein, overcomes the great dragon, bruises the 
serpent's head and destroys his wisdom.* 

The fear of the Lord is the begining of true wisdom ; 
the wise man says, " The fear of the Lord is a fountain 
of life, to depart from the snares of death it is like 
the first step in that ladder which Jacob saw in his 
vision, reaching to the throne of God; and every step 
we ascend, the hidden mysteries of the kingdom are 
increasingly unfolded to our understandings. 

Who then is likely to comprehend the Scriptures 
of truth r The humble and sincere inquirer, even he 
who is travelling to Zion with his face thitherward ; 
he who seeks to know the Lord's will that he may 
do it. 

To such an one the Scriptures will not be a dead 
letter, life will answer to life, because quickened by 

* See Cruden's Concordance, word, Humble. See James, chap, 
iii. ver. 13, to the end. 

D 2 



52 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



the Spirit of the Lamb, who alone can open the seals, 
and will reveal to all his faithful followers, all that is 
necessary and expedient for them to know. To such the 
Scriptures are " profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for 
correction,forinstruction in righteousness; that the man 
of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all 
good works."* Then it is that the Scriptures become 
the true outward and visible index, pointing to the 
deep and invisible things of God (through the types, 
and allegories of the law, history and prophecies), 
unto Christ our Redeemer, in whom all these types, 
allegories, and prophecies centre.f And then it is, 
that that void and chasm of desire, which was before ex- 
perienced, is filled with the knowledge of divine things, 
and the soul becomes experimentally acquainted with 
the blessed means of its restoration and redemption, 
through Christ its Saviour, whom to know is life 
eternal.! 

* 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17. 
f Appendix (I). 
J Thomas Hartley, M.A., Rector of Wen wick, Northampton- 
shire, gives a practical view on this point. " The apostle Paul," 
says he, " when speaking of the Jewish priesthood and the service 
of the Tabernacle, calls them the shadows of heavenly things, and 
elsewhere he expounds the cloud, the passage of the Israelites 
through the Red Sea, the manna, the Rock yielding water, &c, 
all in a mystical sense : now," says he, " all these things happened 
unto them as types, or figurative exhibitions of things to come. 
And his other allegorical or mystical interpretations of Sarah and 
Hagar, Isaac and Ishmael, as relative to the two covenants, show 
a figurative sense wrapped up in these characters. But, speaking of 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



53 



Here we may see the great use and design of the 
Scriptures, that they are a treasury and storehouse, 
from which doctrine and instruction may be gathered; 
they appear intended to show unto us from what we are 
fallen, and how we are restored, to bring us to a true 
sense of our situation, to wound us as it were by the 
law, and to heal us by the Gospel; or in other words, 
to awaken the soul to a sense of its situation by na- 
ture, and assist its salvation by alluring and consola- 
tory declarations and instructive lessons, while the 
allegorical and typical representations are as so many 
perspectives, through which we may obtain a glimpse 
of the stupendous mysteries of Almighty love in his 
designs towards his creatures. By it we are led, step 
by step, through those various dispensations of God's 
providence, which he, in his all-sufficient wisdom, 
hath allotted to man, so as in the end to find and 
discover Christ to be the eternal life testified of there- 
in. In the early part of the Scriptures we are made 
acquainted with man's disobedience and fall from that 
state of innocence and rectitude in which he was 



some of the Fathers of the Church, on their separating from heathen- 
ism, as being too much given to allegorizing Scriptures; he says, 
"that Austin, to check the undue use of this mode, drew those re- 
marks, which was considered as a rule in his time to be observed." 
M We must neither hold with them who keep only to the history 
(or letter), without allowing the allegorical sense: — nor yet with 
those who are so taken up with the mystical, as to reject the his- 
torical meaning." &c, which appears to be a sound view. 



54 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



created ; by the nature of which we may see, in a 
great degree, the appointed means of our redemption 
from the effects thereof, through the power and spiri- 
tual operation of Jesus Christ, by sanctifying our 
souls, as well as by the atoning sacrifice of himself for 
the sins of the whole world, the benefit of which all are 
invited to partake, although to some it may be said 
(speaking in the person of Christ), "ye will not come 
unto me that ye may have life ;" but as it is written, 
"there is no other name given among men whereby we 
can be saved." 

I will here introduce to my readers some extracts 
from eminent men with whose sentiments I much ac- 
cord. The first is from John Smith, Fellow of Queen's 
College, Cambridge, corroborative of the opinion, that 
" the best evidence of the Christian religion arises 
from the energy of the Holy Spirit." He says, " our 
Saviour, the great Master of Divine Truth, [did] not, 
while he was here on earth, draw it up into a system 
or body : nor [did] his followers after him : he [did] 
not lay it out to us in canons or articles of belief, not 
being so careful to stock or enrich the world with 
opinions, as with true piety, and a God-like pattern of 
purity, as the best way to thrive in all spiritual un- 
derstanding." 

Dr. John JefFery has also said, " God evidently in- 
tended that a Living Teacher, even the Spirit, should 
accompany the historical Gospel in all ages, and sup- 
ply all our wants of instruction according to the oc- 
casion." 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



55 



See also on this head, Jacob Abbott, a writer in 
good esteem with many,* who clearly shows the be- 
nefit we are likely to receive from a right perusal of 
those sacred records, which through a true spiritual 
discernment, will, as they are intended by their di- 
vine xluthor, lead us rightly to appreciate Jesus Christ 
as our alone Mediator, Intercessor, and Redeemer : 
and we may suppose (if we admit that He is indeed 
perfect in wisdom) the means which he hath appointed 
for our deliverance must be the best. 

The Apostle Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, 
thus speaks of the work of man's reconciliation. 
" For, if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled 
to God by the death of His Son, much more, being 
reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not 
only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord 
Jesus Christ, by w r hom we have now received the 
Atonement." f This word atonement, is very ex- 
pressive of the great object of our Redeemer's mis- 
sion on our account, and it is of so extensive a nature 
as to include the whole doctrine of Christian redemp- 
tion, which dates its progress from the fall of our first 
parents, and through the first ages of mankind under 
the patriarchs, as also through the dispensation of the 
law and the prophets ; until finally perfected by the 
Saviour of men, Jesus Christ, " of whom Moses in the 

* Appendix (K). 
f Rom. v. 11. — More fully expressed by the word " Reconcilia- 
tion, or Reconciled." 



56 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



law and the prophets did write,"* and who was de- 
signated as " the Lamb slain from the foundation of 
the world."t 

Let us take the words as expressed by the Apostle 
in connexion with the prophets, and other corrobora- 
tive portions of Scripture : may we not be satisfied 
with its importance and the clear signification of the 
w r ords as recorded by the Apostle, and that like all 
other important doctrines which affect our eternal in- 
terests, it is mercifully rendered exceedingly plain 
and easy to comprehend ? 

It appears by the division of the sentiment which 
the Apostle lays down to his disciples, and to us 
through them, to contain two important considera- 
tions; which should be ever kept in sight. Firsts 
" That when we were enemies " (or " carnal, sold 
under sin"), "we were reconciled to God by the 
death of his Son," that this death, this sacrifice, was a 
complete satisfaction to his heavenly Father, our mer- 
ciful God, for the sins of the whole w r orld : that his 
blood was efficacious to wash away all our past trans- 
gressions, and cancel all our iniquities, and he there 
and then, " blotted out the hand-writing of ordinan- 
ces that was against us, w r hich was contrary to us, 
and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross," 
according to the figurative language of the Apostle 
to the Colossians. So that the language of the Sa- 
viour which he used to the impotent man at the pool 



* John i. 45. 



f Eev. xiii. 8. 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



57 



of Bethesda, after he had healed him, and found him 
in the temple, may equally in our case apply to us; 
" Behold, thou art made whole : sin no more, lest a 
worse thing come unto thee." 

He tasted death for every man, as was testified to 
the Hebrews, not to satisfy or appease the wrath of 
an offended deity, like the heathen sacrifices ;* for 
" God is love," (and) " In this was manifested the 
love of God towards us, because that God sent his 
only begotten Son into the world, that we might live 
through Him." 

Again, " God so loved the world, that he gave his 
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him 
should not perish, but have everlasting life." 

See the unity of the blessed Saviour in this love, as 
expressed by the Apostle to the Galatians ; " Grace 
be to you and peace from God the Father, and from 
our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our 
sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil 
world, according to the will of God the Fathei\"+ t 

* Appendix (L). 
f Gal. i. 4. Also see Timothy, ii. 6; and Titus, ii. 14. 
X " There is reason" (says Dr. Leachman in the sixth sermon 
of his first vol.) " to suspect that some are prejudiced against the 
doctrine of Jesus Christ's being the propitiation for the sins of the 
world from a wrong notion of it, as implying that God was ren- 
dered merciful and placable by it, when he was otherwise before ; 
whereas, it is the clear and undisputed doctrine of the Gospel, 
that God is essentially benign and merciful ; and that the propiti- 
tion is so far from being the cause of the divine mercy, that it is 

D 3 



58 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



Here we cannot but observe that all merit is shut 
out from man, who could not move one step towards 
propitiating his sins past, (even) as an introductory 
step to his salvation by grace; which will appear 
further by the prophet, when, speaking in the character 
of the Redeemer, he says, "I have trodden the wine- 
press alone ; and of the people there was none with 
me."* The Apostle also in his address to the He- 
brews, speaking of the Saviour, says, " When he had 
by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right 
hand of the Majesty on high :" and how was this 
verified also by the desertion of his disciples, even by 
Peter, the most zealous of them, who denied him in 
the trying hour ?f 

" God commendeth his love towards us, in that 
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much 
more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall 
be saved from wrath through him. "J The Apostle 
also addressing the Corinthians in a similar language 
as that which he spake to the Romans, says, " And 



the effect of it :, it was the essential mercy of the divine nature 
which moved him to appoint the atonement, and to accept of it. 
The atonement through the "blood of Jesus, is the method chosen 
by Infinite Wisdom of extending his essential mercy to penitents, 
in a way perfectly consistant with the purity, the righteousness, 
the order, and dignity, of his moral government. ,, — Appendix (L) 
continued. 

* Isa. lxiii. 3. 
f See also the Apostle's remarks, Rom. v. 8, 9. 
+ Rom. v. 9. 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



59 



all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to him- 
self by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry 
of reconciliation ; (to wit) that God was in Christ, 
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their 
trespasses unto them ; and hath committed unto us 
(his ministers) the word of reconciliation."* 

To those who believe in the Scriptures can any- 
thing be more conclusive and satisfactory than these 
declarations of the Apostle, of that full and free pardon 
and remission of sins, unmerited as we see on our 
part, and solely to be attributed to the mercy of God 
in Christ Jesus ? But mark, what says the Apostle 
in conclusion ? " Now then, we are ambassadors for 
Christ, as though God did beseech you by us : we 
pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." 
And he gives this reason ; " For he hath made Him 
to be sin for us,t who knew no sin : that we might 
be made the righteousness of God in him."i " We 
then, as workers together with him, beseech you also, 
that ye receive not the grace of God in vain."§ What 
does this imply? But, that as God is reconciled to 
us, his transgressing and fallen creatures, " through 
the death of his Son," He requires on our part that 
we be reconciled to him and show our sincerity by 
becoming workers together with him, obedient to his 
will, which he by his free grace will enable us to be, 

* 2 Cor. v. 18, 19. 
f Or as the prophet Isaiah has it in chap, liii., " The Lord hath 
laid on him the iniquity of us all." 

+ 2 Cor. v. 20, 21. § Ibid, vi. 1. 



60 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



and our duty will be made evident and manifest to us 
by the light of Jesus Christ. How earnestly does the 
Apostle urge this upon us by the fervency of his ad- 
dress ! Which is that second part which I have con- 
sidered the atonement requires of us, a giving up our- 
selves to the operation of the grace of God, which 
will not be in vain if we are desirous on our part to 
yield obedience thereto. " It was the main design of 
Christ's life, doctrine, and miracles" (says a pious 
writer), " to call men to repentance, faith, and obedi- 
ence ;" so it was also the great end of his sufferings 
and death, to accomplish the same glorious design : 
for, " He gave himself for our sins, that he might de- 
liver us from this present evil world, according to the 
will of God and our Father."* 

He " loved the Church, and gave himself for it; 
that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the wash- 
ing of water, by the word: that he might present it 
to himself a glorious Church, not having spot or 
wrinkle, or any such thing : but that it should be 
holy, and without blemish. "f 

" He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us 
from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar 
people, zealous of good works."J 

" He died for all, that they which live, should not 
henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which 
died for them and rose again."§ This is the argu- 



* Gal. i. 4. 



f Eph. v. 26, 27. 
§ 2 Cor. v. 15. 



+ Titus, ii. 14 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



61 



ment that the Apostle much insisted upon, and for 
the further enforcing of it, I shall mention but two 
places more. "Ye are bought" (saith he) "with a 
price, therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your 
spirit, which are God's."* " And you that were 
sometimes alienated, and enemies in your mind by 
wicked works; yet, now hath he reconciled, in the 
body of his flesh through death, to present you holy, 
and unblamable, and unreprovable in his sight."t 
" By the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ without us, 
we truly repenting and believing, are, through the 
mercy of God, justified from the imputation of sins 
and transgressions that are past, as though they had 
never been committed : and by the mighty work of 
Christ within us, the power, nature, and habits of sin 
are destroyed ; that as sin once reigned unto death, 
even so now grace reigneth, through righteousness, 
unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord. All this 
is effected, not by a bare or naked faith, separate from 
obedience, but in the obedience of faith, it being to 
them that obey him, that Christ is the author of eter- 
nal salvation."! 

* 1 Cor.vi. 20. f CoL i. 21,23. 

\ Archbishop Leighton, who was esteemed, not only a learned, 
but pious Christian, in his Meditation on the following passage 
from Psalm xxxii. ver. 2 ; viz., " Blessed is the man to whom the 
Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile 
says (after some introductory remarks) " But we must now ob- 
serve the complication of a two-fold good, in constituting this fe- 
licity ; for we have two things here connected, as conspiring to 
make the person spoken of, blessed : the free remission of sin, 



62 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



66 The obedience and sufferings of our blessed Sa- 
viour, are, indeed, accounted to us for righteousness^ 
and will most certainly redound to our unspeakable 
benefit and advantage, upon our performance of the 
condition which the Gospel doth require on our part, 
namely, ' That every man that names the name of 
Christ, depart from iniquity And the grace of God's 
Holy Spirit is ready to enable us to perform this con- 
dition, if we earnestly ask for, and do sincerely co- 
operate with it : provided we do what we can on our 
part, God will not be wanting on his. But if we re- 
ceive the grace of God in vain, and take no care to 
perform the condition, and neglect to implore the 



and the inward purification of the heart." * * * He 
goes on to say, — <c But if any one think he can divide these two 
things, which the hand of God has joined by so inseparable a bond, 
it is a vain dream. Nay, by attempting to separate these two parts 
of happiness, he will, in fact, only exclude himself from the whole. 
Jesus, our victorious Saviour, has snatched us from the jaws of 
eternal death ; but to be delivered from the cruel tyranny and 
bonds of sin, and to be brought into the blessed liberty of the sons 
of God, was another essential part of our redemption ; and if any 
one does not embrace this with equal alacrity as the other benefit, 
he is a wretched slave of the most mean and ignoble spirit ; and 
being equally unworthy of both parts of this stupendous deliver- 
ance, lie will justly forfeit and lose both. And this (says he), is 
the epidemical Antinomianism of the Christian world, because 
they who labour under it have nothing but the name of Chris- 
tians; they gladly hear of the pardon of their sins and the salva- 
tion of their souls, while they are averse to the doctrine of holi- 
ness and repentance. ,> 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTUKE. 



63 



grace and assistance of God's Holy Spirit, to that 
purpose, we have none to blame but ourselves ; be- 
cause it is then our own fault if we fall short of that 
happiness which Christ hath purchased, and promised 
to us upon such easy and reasonable conditions as 
*he Gospel proposeth. But I no where find that God 
hath promised to force happiness upon the negligent, 
and a reward upon the wicked and slothful servant."* 

May we obtain such a sight and sense of those pure 
and simple truths relative to our eternal salvation ac- 
cording to Scripture, as set forth by holy men in- 
spired by the Holy Ghost, free from any admixture 
or alloy, from creeds or the fanciful opinions of men : 
seeking to that power alone which we are assured 
will lead us into all truth that may be essential for us 
in our present states to know. 

Our blessed Lord said unto his disciples, " I have 
yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear 
them now."f Jesus Christ hath declared himself 
" the way, the truth, and the life, (and) no man 
cometh unto the Father," saith he, " but by me"X If 
we are in Him, then we shall know the truth. " If 
ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples in- 
deed," said our blessed Lord (to those Jews who be- 
lieved on him;) "and ye shall know the truth, and the 
truth shall make you free."§ 

* From Richard Claridge's works, printed 1726. A Member 
in good esteem of the Religious Society of Friends, 

t John xvi. 12. J Ibid xiv. 6. § Ibid viii. 31, 32. 



64 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



In concluding these observations on the glorious 
theme of man's redemption, we may well adopt those 
aspirations of praise addressed to the Lord by the 
Psalmist : — " Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget 
not all his benefits : who forgiveth all thy iniquities, 
who healeth all thy diseases ; who redeemeth thy 
life from destruction ; who crowneth thee with loving - 
kindness and tender mercies ; the Lord is merciful 
and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. 
He will not always chide : neither will he keep his 
anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our 
sins ; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 
For, as the heaven is high above the earth, so great 
is his mercy towards them that fear him. As far as 
the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our 
transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his 
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For 
he knoweth our frame ; he remembereth that we are 
dust."* 



* Psa. ciii. 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTCRE. 



65 



CHAPTER IV. 

ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 
(Continued.) 



" These (things) are written, that ye might helieve that Jesus 
is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that believing ye might 
have life through his name." — John xx. 31. 

The division of this subject by introducing another 
chapter under the head, " On Following Scripture," 
is in order to accommodate it the to two descriptions 
of readers for whom this work is principally written ; 
namely, those who doubt or disbelieve the truths of 
inspiration, and those who have embraced Unitarian 
views : and though I do not consider that both stand 
precisely on the same foundation ; yet, on this part 
of Christian doctrine, there does require nearly the 
same line of argument for the one as for the other. I am 
aware, in thus treating the subject, of going in degree 
over the same ground ; it will necessarily lead to a 
repetition of some portions of Scripture already quot- 



66 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



ed ; yet, I trust, as the matter of discourse will be di- 
versified according to the case, such repetition will 
not be unprofitable. 

To clear my way with such readers as above de- 
scribed, I desire to call their attention to the follow- 
ing remarks: — the one rejects the Scriptures alto- 
gether as the oracles of God, the other accepts only so 
much as accords with his own conceptions ; rejecting 
as interpolations those parts which show the Divine 
character of the Saviour : in other words, acknow- 
ledging Jesus Christ only as a prophet sent from 
God, like the prophets of old : denying his deity and 
miraculous incarnation, as related by the Evangelists : 
thereby discarding the belief of redemption and sal- 
vation through Him, in any other way than by his 
moral influence and precepts- The sincere believer 
on the other hand who accepts the Scripture entire, 
and is sensible of his need as a fallen creature, is pre- 
pared to acknowledge the perfect adaptation of the 
truth, as recorded in the volume of inspiration, to his 
condition, and joyfully to accept the assistance prof- 
fered for his complete restoration and salvation. 

If full proof is insisted upon, I must observe, I 
should esteem it the height of presumption to pretend 
to demonstrate that which must be the object of faith 
after all that can be advanced upon it. 

There are many things in creation we must be con- 
tent to take on trust, where no positive evidence can 
be obtained, nor can words be found sufficient to de- 
fine and demonstrate them to our natural understand- 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



67 



ings. It is not to external proofs alone,* but to that 
internal evidence for the truth which is given to the 
truly seeking mind I call attention, after seriously 
weighing the consistency of the arguments which may 
be advanced in connexion with the subject or matter 
proposed to its consideration. 

Vicesimus Knox, D.D., before quoted, speaking of 
a person of the name of Huet, a writer on such a sub- 
ject as that now before us, says, " he wrote his De- 
monstrations to bring the reasoners to listen ; but ac- 
knowledges that grace must produce the true saving 
faith ;" he adds, " the truth of the Christian religion 
may be proved by a kind of demonstration, not less 
certain than the geometrical yet, still, he acknow- 
ledges, that after all, faith must be given by God, and 
that saving faith arises not from demonstration. Now, 
what is faith ? may be the inquiry. The Apostle in 
a few words defines it to be, " the substance of things 
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." " By 
grace ye are saved, through faith," (saith the Apos- 
tle)f " and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of 

* Appendix (M). 
f " k Can faith be separated from practice ? No. Practical holi- 
ness is the end ; faith is the means. And to suppose faith and 
practice separable, is to suppose the end attainable without the 
means. The direct contrary is the truth. The practice of reli- 
gion will always thrive in proportion as its doctrines are generally 
understood and firmly received ; and the practice will degenerate 
and decay in proportion as the doctrine is misunderstood and neg- 
lected." — From Bishop Horsley's Charge, delivered 1790. 



68 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



God,"* and even here, a reason is given ; " not of 
works, lest any man should boast." God alone is our 
salvation : he will not give his glory to another, nor 
can any man save his brother or give to God a ransom 
for him ; neither can any man save himself ; but we 
need not despair, our salvation being secure in His 
hand with whom there is mercy and plenteous re- 
demption. 

In looking at the definition of faith as given above 
by the Apostle, I think we may see it is the fulfil- 
ment of hope by anticipation. Therefore, if our hope 
is fixed on God, he gives us our desires by a full as- 
surance, that they will in his due and appointed time 
be realized to us ; for the same Apostle has also 
said, " we are saved by hope : but hope that is 
seen, is not hope : for what a man seeth, why doth 
he yet hope for ? But if we hope for that we see not, 
then do we with patience wait for it."t 

The Psalmist in his soliloquy to his soul, says, 
"Why art thou cast down, Oh my soul ? and why art 
thou disquieted within me ? hope in God : for I shall 
yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, 
and my God."J He, again, in another part, says, 
" As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so doth 
my soul after thee, O God : my soul is athirst for 
God."§ The Saviour has promised to such in words 
accordant to those desires, " Blessed are they which 



* Eph. ii 8, 9. f Horn. viii. 24, 25. + Ps. xliii. 5. 
§ Ps. xlii. 1, 2. 



OX FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



69 



do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall 
be filled."* 

Thus we see hope rightly directed, is intimately 
connected with that faith which is its substance ; that 
full assurance, which is blessed and will prevail ; 
which overcomes the world, and works by love to the 
purification of the heart. 

" Do not err, my beloved brethren," (says the 
apostle James), " every good gift and every perfect 
gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father 
of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow 
of turning."t But we read, that other hopes are not 
so blessed. u The hope of the hypocrite shall 
perish,"^ and that " when a wicked man dieth, his 
expectations shall perish :" and " the hope of the un- 
just man perisheth,"§ 

The Apostle says, " whatsoever a man soweth, that 
shall he also reap : for he that soweth to his flesh, shall 
of the flesh reap corruption ; but he that soweth to 
the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." || H 

Much more might be said on this subject, but this 

* Matt. v. 6. t James i. 17. X Job viii. 13. 

§ Prov. xi. 7. || Gal. vi. 7. 

^1 A sensible writer has observed on another occasion, which is 
worthy attention : — " that moral and intellectual improvement 
must be as earnestly sought as if there was no promise of super- 
natural assistance ; just as the husbandman must plough and sow 
diligently, though he knows that the sun and the showers are ab- 
solutely necessary to give the increase.''— Anon. 



70 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



may suffice ; desiring to commend my reader to that 
word which is quick and powerful, and is a discerner 
of the thoughts and intents of the heart, and remind- 
ing him that as truth in reference to the present ques- 
tion, is of the utmost importance, we should be very 
careful, lest by too hasty a decision, we be found re- 
jecting our own sure mercies. 

To proceed : — there are certain axioms so evident, 
that they will at once be generally and readily allow- 
ed : they will be needed as preliminary to our subject, 
namely, the high attributes of the Divine Being, His 
omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience, which 
the language of Scripture so well illustrates ; that the 
Being who created all things,has alsoboundless power 
over all things ; that there is no place where He is not ; 
that He pervades all space; and that nothing is hid from 
his presence ; that his beneficence is boundless, ac- 
cording to the emphatic expression of the Apostle, 
" God is love :" thus embodying that which is His 
crowning attribute, as the governing principle of his 
nature. How sublime is the description given by his 
servants in all ages, of his majesty, power, and glory! 
His excellence and his praise may be referred to ge- 
nerally, in a great variety of expressions ; but our 
present limits do not allow us much to enlarge, yet in 
the language of the Psalmist we will here say, "know 
ye, that the Lord, he is God : it is he that hath made 
us, and not we ourselves ; we are his people, and the 
sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



71 



thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise ; be 
thankful unto him and bless his name. For the Lord 
is good, his mercy is everlasting, and his truth en- 
dureth to all generations."* 

Of his omnipresence, he thus speaks, "O Lord, thou 
hast searched me and known me : thou knowest my 
down-sitting and mine up-rising; thou understandest 
my thoughts afar off ; thou compassest my path and 
my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways; 
for there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo ! O Lord, 
thou knowest it altogether : thou hast beset me be- 
hind and before, and laid thine hand upon me ; such 
knowledge is too wonderful for me ; it is high, I can- 
not attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy 
Spirit ? or whither shall I flee from thy presence ? If 
I ascend up into heaven, thou art there, if I make my 
bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the 
wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost 
parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, 
and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely, 
the darkness shall cover me ; even the night shall be 
light about me ; yea, the darkness hideth not from 
thee ; but the night shineth as the day : the darkness 
and the light are both alike to thee," &c.f 

Without entering much further at present into 
Scripture quotations to show from thence the power, 
wisdom, and goodness of God ; not, however, from 
any paucity of expression on the subject, but rather, 
* Ps. c. 3 — 5. t Ps. cxxxix. 



72 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



from its abundance ; because, if pursued, the difficulty 
would be to know where to close : it is the theme not 
of the devotional only, it is also largely dwelt upon 
in the historical and prophetical parts of the inspired 
writings : let us presume that the glorious attributes 
of the Creator may be fully admitted even from that 
which passes within us : let us examine the working 
of our own minds, the structure of our frame ; the 
skill and contrivance of all its parts, and the adapta- 
tion of each to each : well may the Apostle say, " that 
which may be known of God, is manifest in them ; for 
God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible 
things of him from the creation of the world are 
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are 
made, even by his eternal power and Godhead."* So 
that it may be said, we are without excuse and can- 
not plead ignorance of these things. 

We will now proceed to quote certain portions of 
Scripture, making some passing remarks upon them 
to illustrate in degree, the purposes and designs of our 
gracious Creator towards us his creatures, as there 
expressed, and which may be thence implied. 

The first which strikes my attention, is that excla- 
mation of the Psalmist, where he says, " when I con- 
sider thy heavens the work of thy fingers, the moon 
and the stars, which thou hast ordained : what is man, 
that thou art mindful of him ? and the son of man, 



* Rom. i. 20. 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



73 



that thou visitest him ? For thou hast made him a 
little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him 
with glory and honour." 

"Thou madest him to have dominion over the works 
of thy hands ; thou hast put all things under his 
feet," &c* How different is the account given of 
the process of our creation from that of any other be- 
ings ! Of them it was said, " God spake, and it was 
done; he commanded, and it stood fast."f But of 
man, he said, " Let us make man in our image, after 
our likeness, and let them have dominion over the 
fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over 
the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creep- 
ing thing that creepeth upon the earth ; so God cre- 
ated man in his own image, in the image of God 
created he him, male and female created he them. "J 

I go on to recite other important particulars in the 
next succeeding chapter. § " And the Lord God 
formed man of the dust of the ground ; and breathed 
into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became 
a living soul." " And the Lord God planted a garden 
eastward in Eden ; and there put the man whom he 
had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord 
God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight 
and good for food ; and the tree of life also in the 
midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of 
good and evil." " And the Lord God took the man, 

* Ps. viii 3 —6. f Ps - xxxiii. 9. { Gen. i. 26, 27. 

§ Gen. ii. 7, 8, 9. 

E 



74 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it, 
and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the 
man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest 
freely eat ; but of the tree of knowledge of good and 
evil thou shalt not eat of it ; for in the day thou eatest 
thereof thou shalt surely die."* t 

I have believed it to be of much importance in our 
present consideration to quote the above extracts as 
introductory to future remarks. 

The very brief account given by the inspired pen- 
man of the creation of man, and his settlement by the 
Almighty, is beautifully simple and expressive : suf- 
ficient for the general purpose of information to the 
humble inquirer : and first, where it is recorded by 
Moses, that God said, " let us make man in our own 
image," &c. ; may we not conclude without doing 
violence to the text, that by the expressions us and 
our, as applied by the Creator in the plural number, 
there is a reference to the truth set forth in the cor- 
respondent language of the Evangelist John, in the 
first chapter of his Gospel ? " In the beginning was 
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word 
was God. The same was in the beginning with God. 
All things were made by him, and without him was 
not anything made that was made."J And his further 
remarks identify Jesus Christ as the Word, in the 
passage following: viz., and " the Word took flesh, 



* Gen. ii. 15, 16, 17. f Appendix (N). 

% John i. 14. 



OX FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



75 



and dwelt amongst us, and we beheld his glory as, 
of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace 
and truth."* However mysterious this may appear to 
us, and however difficult to our human reason in its 
unregenerate state to comprehend, yet, if we take this 
part in connexion with the whole scope of our re- 
demption, and in accordance with the expressions of 
the prophets there appears no more or greater difficulty 
in believing the truth of it ; (although our compre- 
hension cannot reach it), than to believe that God 
made the universe, or that man, his intelligent being, 
was created by his power : and that what is recorded 
of the mysterious conception, incarnation, and birth 
of our divine Saviour, is clearly consistent with that 
work he came to fulfil in our nature ; and when the 
necessity is pointed out for such an interposition on 
the part of our merciful Creator, in order to renew us 
again into his own image and likeness, which, when 
man fell, he no longer retained ; it calls for our gra- 
titude and admiration of his wisdom and love, as de- 
veloped in the wondrous whole of man's redemption. 
We know, that some of our readers, to whom this is 
addressed, charge some of the passages in the Gospels 
in which the miraculous conception is mentioned 
with being interpolations ; but it may be affirmed as 
the result of a very careful inquiry by competent 
judges, that the evidence of their genuineness is clear 
and satisfactory; and even if it were otherwise, the 



* Appendix (0). 

E 2 



76 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



truth rests not on these texts alone, but on numerous 
other portions also of the Divine records, with which 
they stand united, and which combine to form one 
clear and consistent whole. 

It may be said, " what can we reason but from what 
we know ?" Our natural knowledge may lead us to 
reason on outward and visible things (as before ex- 
pressed) pertaining to natural and sensible objects ; 
but even in those, how frail and imperfect ; how slow 
and deficient we are in our attainments ! Let us not 
presume we are sufficient for all things ; particularly 
on subjects where one error in our judgment may 
lead to many others which may have important bear- 
ings on our present and eternal happiness. 

" Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or be- 
ing his counseller, hath taught him ?" says the Pro- 
phet ; or, " who hath been his counseller ?" says the 
Apostle ;* can finite beings grasp the designs of in- 
finity ? " shall the thing formed say to him that form- 
ed it, why hast thou made me thus ?"t Let us (as 
limited and dependant beings), be willing to submit 
our judgments to that Divine Being who created us, 
and who knows best for what purpose. Infinite 
in wisdom and knowledge, he knows the end from 
the beginning. Infinite in love and mercy, He com- 
passionates our weakness and infirmities. 

All the Creator's works which he hath made, are 
perfect according to their kind and degree ; and He 



* Isa. xl. 13. compare Bom. xi. 34. f Horn. ix. 20. 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



77 



saw everything that he had made and behold it was very 
good. With Him time and distance are as nothing ; 
" one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and 
a thousand years as one day." All contingences which 
might arise, his eye saw, and his provident care was 
extended over them : for " a sparrow cannot fall to 
the ground " without his permission ; and " the very 
hairs of our head are numbered :" may we not then 
say, His work is yet on the wheel ? Here we see but 
in part of his designs : we know but in part ; let us 
not too presumptuously judge the whole. 
The poet says : — 

" One part, one little part, we dimly scan 
Thro' the dark medium of life's feverish dream, 
Yet dare arraign the whole stupendous plan, 
If but that little part incongruous seem. 
Nor is that part, perhaps, what mortals deem; 
Oft from apparent ill, our blessings rise. 
Oh, then, renounce that impious self-esteem, 
That aims to trace the secrets of the skies : 
For thou art but of dust ; be humble and be wise.'' 

Beatti'e's Minstrel. 

We are advised to "judge nothing before the time, 
until the Lord come." He has not left us to grope 
in darkness, but dispenses the light of life to all who 
are willing and desirous to receive it. He hath ap- 
pointed one living teacher, even Jesus Christ, who, by 
the light of his Holy Spirit, teaches us the way where- 
in we should go. He hath given us the Scriptures of 
truth as a written directory to lead us to Him; and He 



78 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



is at all times raising up and qualifying his ministers 
to testify to the truth of both the outward and in- 
ward means of salvation ; and herein " we may see 
the goodness of God," in that he presses the kingdom 
of heaven upon us both from within and without. 

By a review of our creation, through the Divine 
power, it may be seen, we are compound beings \ our 
bodies being formed from the dust of the earth, our 
souls breathed forth from the ever-living God ; and 
thus we become quickened, living denizens of two 
estates; the one temporal, the other eternal. 

We see our first parent, placed by our Creator in * 
the garden of Eden, with free will ; whereby it ap- 
pears, he might have stood by obedience to the Di- 
vine will, and have ruled over all the inferior created 
beings, according to the Almighty fiat, but was at the 
same time under a liability to fall, as soon as his own 
will was set up in opposition to the will of his Maker. 
Created for Paradise, glorified with the presence of 
his God, and sustained by his power, so long as he 
was united with the Holy Spirit, so long was he free 
and happy. His will being in harmony with the Di- 
vine will, he moved in love and obedience to its dic- 
tates ; free to choose of every tree that was pleasant j 
to the sight and good for food, with but one solitary 
injunction, "of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, 
thou shalt not eat of it ; for in the day thou eatest 
thereof thou shalt surely die."* 



* Gen, ii. 17, 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



79 



Although this may be considered as the first posi- 
tive law given to mankind, let none in the present 
age presumptuously say, as some aforetime, on the 
literal expressions of this Scripture, that God gave to 
his creatures an arbitrary law, and condemned Adam 
with all his posterity, for eating a fruit which in it- 
self was a matter of indifference. 

Such is the weak and perverted reasoning, or rather 
conclusion without reasoning, of some who have set 
themselves up as censors of Holy writ.* 

By sad experience we know the effects produced 
in all ages, and in all places, by depravity and igno- 
rance, cupidity and violence, arising from base pas- 
sions. Wickedness in every shape and form has so 
prevailed that the heart sickens at the contemplation. 

Could such have been the result of the immediate 
creation of that God, whom we have been holding up 
to the admiration and praise of all his creatures who 
are endued with faculties to think and feel ? 

The full instruction conveyed in the narrative, and 
especially the spiritual signification of the tree of 
knowledge of good and evil, as well as of the tree 
of life, of which he that eateth shall live for ever, 
it will not become me to speak of, here : but we are 
all free to conceive, and shall no doubt hereafter know 
and see the mysteries, and be capable of appreciating 

9 

*" On the adaptation of the Holy Scriptures to the different 
capacities of men." See Appendix (B). 



80 ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 

them to the praise and glory of the great Author of 
all. 

The Apostle Paul, in addressing the Romans, says, 
" I would have you wise unto that which is good, and 
simple concerning evil ; and the God of peace shall 
bruise Satan under your feet shortly." 

The very reverse of this was then taken by our first 
parent's course whereby they brought on themselves 
that change which was wrought in their condition, and 
which, through them, has been transmitted to their pos- 
terity : and through them also, the fatal desire to have 
their eyes opened to the evil principle in opposition to 
that premonitory law and command of their Creator and 
their God. Thus by listening and yielding to the sug- 
gestions and insinuations of the arch enemy of God 
and man, — the subtle Serpent—evil was infused into 
the mind of our first parents, and obtained that power 
and ascendancy over them, that they fell victims to 
its destructive tendency, as we shall hereafter show. 

Man fell by pride, which appears to have been pre- 
ceded by unbelief: for when the insinuation was in- 
troduced, " ye shall not surely die," they doubted the 
verity of their God ; and as the reception of one evil 
suggestion is quickly followed by another, so like- 
wise it was in this instance, for " God doth know, 
(says the tempter) that in the day ye eat thereof, then 
your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, 
knowing good and evil." These suggestions were as 
the key that opened the door to pride and envy, and 
prompted to open rebellion by disobedience to the 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. SI 

Divine will, which when effected, their robe of inno- 
cency dropped off, their eyes were opened indeed, 
but it was to another scene of things ; the Divine 
image in which they were created was marred, light 
became dark in their tabernacle, and having no longer 
any spiritual unity with God, they sought to hide 
themselves from his presence. Here then is the first 
short but instructive picture of the fall of man, the 
effects of which are still verified by all the children of 
disobedience, who are still hiding themselves from the 
presence of their Creator, and are turned backward, 
proceeding from one degree of turpitude unto another, 
until in the end they became ingulphed in an abyss 
of destruction ; and that from a principle as natural 
as that a heavy and ponderous body will continue to 
fall until it reach the centre of gravitation, unless an- 
other power be applied to arrest its progress. The 
intervening power is Christ, the sent of God ; it is he 
that stands in the gap to arrest our progress, and re- 
deem us from that inevitable destruction, which it was, 
and is, as impossible for man to do, by his own natural 
power, as it would be impossible for a stone by its own 
power, to fly upwards ; here then we may see the ne- 
cessity of that mediation and atonement so strongly 
testified of by the Scriptures ; for as man has nothing 
of his own to offer, nor any ability in, or of himself 
even to think a good thought, much less to do a 
righteous act, it is therefore evident, that the first 
spark of spiritual life, must come from God, as it is 
written, " the first man Adam was made a living soul, 

E 3 



82 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



the last Adam (the Lord from heaven), was made a 
quickening spirit." As the first Adam, by his disobe- 
dience, brought " sin into the world, and death by 
sin," so Christ, the second Adam, by his obedience 
unto death, hath, for us, brought life and immortality 
to light. 

The Apostle says, I know, that in me, that is, 
in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing."* We may 
as well expect grapes from thorns, and figs from 
thistles, as salvation by or from man ; " for, as Adam 
had effaced the Divine image in himself, and be- 
come wholly degenerate, so his children can have no 
good thing as belonging to their nature, which he, 
from whom they derive their common nature, had not 
to communicate." t 

It is said, that Adam " begat a son in his own like- 
ness, after his image ;" J and the Psalmist hath ob- 
served, " behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin 
did my mother conceive me."§ And we may inquire 
in the words of Scripture, " who can bring a clean 
thing out of an unclean?" and answer in its own lan- 
guage, " not one." [| Methinks, this should be suffi- 
cient to convince such as favour Unitarian princi- 
ples, that Jesus Christ, if in the capacity of man only, 
as begotten, of man, could not be, in the nature of 
things, effective to our salvation. 

My dear friends, I am desirous that this part of the 
Christian doctrine should be again and again review- 

*Rom. vii. 18. + Robert Barclay. + Gen. v. 3. 

§ Ps.li.5. || Jobxiv.4. 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



83 



ed ; I believe it is an important part, and will bear 
examination ; that it contains no inconsistency when 
viewed in reference to the relation in which we, as 
creatures, stand to our Creator ; that there is nothing 
in which our reason may not concur; that Jesus 
Christ was both God and man, and thus alone qua- 
lified to redeem us from sin ; that " He, the eternal 
Word, took upon himself our nature, as the seed of 
the woman, and so was made man ; that for us, and 
our salvation, he came down from heaven, not only 
that he might be an example unto us of doing and 
suffering, but might also, by this marvellous union of 
the Divine and the human nature furnish the strongest 
evidence of God's love to his creature man.* " God 
is reconciled unto us in Christ," and we by unity of 
the Spirit of Christ with us, are become reconciled 
to God : it was he who died for our sins, and rose 
again for our justification ; " there is, therefore, now no 
condemnation (mark) to them which are in Christ 
Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spi- 
rit ;t for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, 
hath made us free from the law of sin and death.";}; 

The Apostle goes on to state, " to be carnally mind- 
ed is death:" and this, the state which we have endea- 
voured to show, is that which we have been brought 
into by the great transgression : but how clearly does 
the Apostle place the two principles of "life and 
death " in contrast by the words that follow : — " but, 
to be spiritually minded, is life and peace and this 

* Appendix (P). f Rom. viii. 1,2. J Appendix, (Q). 



84 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



we are assured comes by Jesus Christ, who by his 
obedience to death, even the death of the cross, has 
abolished death and brought life and immortality to 
light : for, " as in Adam all die, even so in Christ 
shall all be made alive." * " Him hath God exalted 
with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, 
for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of 
sins."t 

It is my desire, that this part of the Christian doc- 
trine may be again and again reviewed in reference to 
the relation in which we as creatures stand to our 
Creator, in this our carnal and unregenerate state, 
which state is described by the Apostle as at " en- 
mity against God." 

A late eminent writer has thus vividly expressed 
himself on this subject. " View man" (says he), " on 
whatever side we can, in his sensualities, or in his 
ferocities — in the sins of his flesh, or in the sins of his 
spirit : — catch him when and where you will — his 
condition is deplorable. While he is sunk in mass 
himself, he has no perception of his state : but when 
he begins to emerge, he looks down with amazement; 
he sees but little, however, of its abomination, be- 
cause he has still an affinity with the evil."J 

The remarks of this writer are not confined to time, 
or place, nor to any particular class or condition of 
mankind, but equally apply to all, in every grade of 
life, varying in its character according to circum- 



* 1 Cor. xv. 22. f A ^s v. 31. . + Richard Cecil, MA. 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



85 



stances from vulgar brutality in the low and unculti- 
vated, to the serpentine mazy cunning in the higher 
and more refined, but all springing from the same 
root ; " their wisdom descendeth not from above, but 
is earthly, sensual, devilish." Their propensities are 
various as those of the inferior animals, to whom, in 
this state they are nearly allied, " being sensual, not 
having the Spirit." Some partake of the nature of 
the wolf or tiger — some are like grovelling swine — 
others, like the cunning fox or wily serpent; and in 
some, the whole of the gross natural properties appear 
to be blended, just as their selfish natures predomi- 
nate, and impel them. 

A Christian poet of our own country, on contem- 
plating the cruel wars, slavery, and oppression, with 
the many evils which prevailed in the world in gene- 
ral, and that passed under his own observation 
around him, in particular could exclaim : — 

" Oh for a lodge in some vast wilderness, 
Some boundless contiguity of shade, 
Where rumours of oppression and deceit, 
Of unsuccessful and successful war, 
Might never reach me more. My ear is pained, 
My soul is sick, with every day's report, 
Of wrongs and outrage, with which earth is filled," &c. 

Cowper. 

We will here introduce a few Scriptural remarks 
out of many which might be adduced on this all im- 
portant subject. 



86 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



Solomon has said, "God made man upright, but 
they have sought out many inventions."* 

The Prophet also says, " the way of peace they 
know not, there is no judgment in their goings, they 
have made them crooked paths."t "Thy first father 
hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed 
against" the Lord ; and in Genesis vi. 12, we find that 
" all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth."! 
In another part, man is called " a seed of evil doers 
and in other places we find such admissions as these, 
— " We have sinned against the Lord our God, we 
and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day $% 
and we are " by nature children of wrath." || The 
children of men " are corrupt; they have done abo- 
minable works : there is none that doth good " they 
are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy ; 
there is none that doth good, no not one."5[ 

The Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that 
the promise by faith of Jesus Christ, might be given 
to them that believe."** 

The prophet Jeremiah hath said, " the heart is de- 
ceitful above all things and desperately wicked : who 
can know it ?" — Hear the rejoinder, and mark the 
word of the Lord : — " I, the Lord, search the heart, I 



* Eccl. vii. 29. f I sa - lix - 8 - t Isa - xliii - 27 - 

§ Isa. i. 4. |1 Jer. iii. 15.— Eph. ii. 3. «I Ps. xiv. 3. 
** Gal. iii. 22. 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



87 



try the reins, even to give to every man according to 
his ways, and according to the fruits of his doings." 

It is also asked by the Prophet, " Can the Ethio- 
pian change his skin, or the leopard his spots i* then 
may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil." 
" Because sentence against an evil work is not exe- 
cuted speedily ; therefore, the heart of the sons of 
men is fully set in them to do evil."t 

I will conclude these quotations with the language 
of the Psalmist, " If thou Lord shouldst mark iniqui- 
ties, who shall stand r" — " In thy sight, O Lord, shall 
no man living be justified."^ 

It appears certain, that in our carnal and unrege- 
nerated state, we are to all intents, guilty and con- 
demned criminals in the sight of God, and are thus 
depicted in the character of our lineal head in the 
third chapter of Genesis, where the charge is brought 
forward by the Almighty, the guilt admitted, and sen- 
tence passed, the criminal doomed to a sterile earth 
cursed for his sake, there to labour and to eat his 
bread by the sweat of his face until he returned to 
that ground from whence he was taken, " for dust 
thou art and unto dust shalt thou return said the 
Lord."§ And it further appears, he was banished 
from the presence of his God and from the light of 
his countenance ; as it is expressed, " therefore, the 
Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to 



* Jer. xvii 9, 10, aud xiii. 13. 
J Ps. cxxx. 3. — cxliii. 2. 



f Eccl. viii. 11. 
§ Gen. iii. 23. 



88 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



till the ground from whence he was taken. So he 
drove out the man ; and placed at the east of the 
garden of Eden, cherubims and a flaming sword, 
which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree 
of life."* 

Let us reflect on these striking expressions, and 
what they are meant to convey to our mind, and be 
assured that their design will be best conceived by 
those who feel the most interested in them, and by 
such, the application of their true interpretation will 
be the most profitably improved. 

May we not observe that the " tree of life" is ob- 
viously reserved for the faithful and obedient, those 
whose minds have been renewed, regenerated and 
purified, and that such will have a Divine right grant- 
ed from the Holy One, to eat the fruit thereof and live 
for ever ! 

" To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the 
tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of 
God."f Such was the language of the Spirit to the 
churches, as we read in the book of the Revelation of 
John the divine. And this overcoming will be through 
the blood of Christ as the Lamb without blemish. 
Man of himself has been tried — he has been weighed 
in the balance of the sanctuary and found wanting ; 
he cannot be trusted more with his own keeping, but 
blessed be God, he hath laid help on one that is 
mighty to save, and it is said, " Blessed are they that 



* Gen. iii. 24. 



f Rev. ii. 7. 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



89 



do his commandments, that may have right to the 
tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into 
the city :"* but without Christ — without his regene- 
rating power, it will be found an impenetrable barrier 
which can never be removed by any device or stra- 
tagem of the carnal mind. It is not of man's merits, 
but of God's mercy, that we are not consumed. He hath 
found a way for our recovery and reconciliation with 
him. It was a remarkable expression of Job in his 
affliction, when he said, " For He is not a man, as I 
am, that I should answer him, and we should come 
together in judgment." " Neither is there any days- 
man betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both. "f 
The Gospel shined but dimly in his day ; faint indeed 
was the dawn. Job had not been instructed concerning 
a Mediator and Intercessor between God and man, as 
in this day ; yet we find that Job, by faith in the pro- 
mises which then existed, or were then revealed to 
him, could say, " I know that my Redeemer liveth, and 
that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth." J 
" And though after my skin worms destroy this body, 
yet in my flesh I shall see God : whom I shall see 
for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not an- 
other ; though my reins be consumed within me :" or 
as the margin has it, (" though my reins within me 
are consumed with earnest desire for that day)." 

When our first parents had by their disobedience 
forfeited their happy abode, and were destined to 

* Rev. xxii. 14. f Job ix. 32, 33. { Job xix. 25. 



90 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



this wilderness state, painful indeed must have been 
their reflections at their altered situation, for although 
spiritual death took place the day Adam disobeyed 
the Divine command, the Almighty was pleased, ac- 
cording to the purpose of his own will, to prolong his 
natural life to a remote period ; but, in the midst of 
judgment, the Lord remembered mercy, in that me- 
morable promise, that "the seed of the woman should 
bruise the head of the serpent and, although the 
time and manner were hidden from our first parents, 
it plainly appeared they understood its conciliatory 
character by that expression of joy which burst from 
Eve, on the birth of her first-born, Cain, when she 
said, " I have gotten a man from the Lord." But, 
although mistaken in her view in respect to the ob- 
ject, time, and mode, the promise itself has generally 
been understood to allude to the Messiah, or Shiloh, 
which was to come, " the desire of all nations/'* to 
whom all the prophets and the apostles have borne 
witness, and who, in the fulness of time was made 
known, when it pleased God to reveal himself to us 
in the person of Jesus Christ, born of the seed of the 
woman, in that miraculous manner recorded by the 
Evangelists.f 

The apostle Paul in a remarkable manner on this 
point in his address to Timothy, expresses himself in 

* Gen. xlix. 10.— Daniel ix. 25, 26— Haggai ii. 7. 
f Matt. i. 18, to the end. — Luke i. 26, to the end. — Also the 
first chapter of John, and second chapter of Luke, to the end. 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



91 



these words, " Without controversy, great is the mys- 
tery of godliness : God was manifest in the flesh, jus- 
tified in the Spirit ; seen of angels, preached unto the 
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into 
glory."* " The Word was made flesh, and dwelt 
amongst us, and we beheld his glory as of the only 
begotten of the Father :"t and, " as the Father hath 
life in himself, so hath he given to the Son, to have 
life in himself ;" and Christ declared himself to be 
both the "resurrection and the life;" and having this 
power, he could restore life wherever it became ex- 
tinct : hy this inherent power he accomplished all his 
miracles. Being as he was, God in power, he did 
nothing ostentatiously, nor appeared farther to exert 
it, than was needful to display that two-fold cha- 
racter of human and Divine, in which capacity he was 
to work out our redemption. The Evangelist Luke 
relates our Saviour's opening his commission at Na- 
zareth, in these words, viz., " And he came to Naza- 
reth, where he had been brought up : and, as his cus- 
tom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath 
day, and stood up for to read. And there was de- 
livered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias, and 
when he had opened the book, he found the place 
where it was written, ' the Spirit of the Lord is upon 
me, because h e hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to 
the poor, he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, 
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering 



* 1 Tim. iii. 16. 



t John i. 14. 



92 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are 
bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord :' 
and he closed the book, aird he gave it again to the 
minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that 
were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And 
he began to say unto them, ' this day is this Scrip- 
ture fulfilled in your ears and all bare him wit- 
ness, and wondered at the gracious words which pro- 
ceeded out of his mouth."* — How impressive, how 
simple, yet how dignified ! 

It is also stated by Matthew, that " when John had 
heard in the prison, the works of Christ, he sent two 
of his disciples " (either to confirm his own mind, or 
strengthen those of others), to say unto him, " art thou 
He that should come, or do we look for another ?" 
Jesus answered, and said unto them, " go and show 
John again those things which ye do hear and see : 
the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the 
lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are 
raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to 
them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be of- 
fended in me."t Now, remark in what manner his 
miracles were accomplished ; much in the same way 
that creation was effected : surely, the same power 
which said, " let there be light, and there was light," 
said unto Lazarus, "come forth;" and to the widow's 
son, " young man, I say unto thee arise :" when they 
were both released from the shackles of death and re- 



* Luke iv. 16—22. 



f Matt. xi. 2—6. 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



93 



stored again to their friends and relations. The same 
word of power was also used in the raging tempest, 
when he rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, 
" peace, be still :" and the wind ceased, and there was 
a great calm, so that the men " feared exceedingly, 
and said one to another, what manner of man is this, 
that even the wind and the sea obey him."* 

We will proceed to show from the same authority 
(namely the Scripture), that our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ had a being before he was conceived by 
the Holy Ghost, and born of the virgin Mary: for "He 
came dojvn from heaven." " He came from above."f 
"'He is the Lord from heaven."J " He came forth 
from the Father, and came into the world. "§ "He 
took on him the seed of Abraham." || All this shows 
that it was one nature (the Divine), which came down, 
and another nature in our flesh that was taken by him; 
the assumer must necessarily be before that which was 
assumed and taken. 

John (the Baptist) seeing Jesus coming unto him, 
saith, " this is He of whom I said, after me cometh a 
man that is preferred before me, for He was before 
me." Our Lord, as he was man, was about six months 
younger than John.H This priority spoken of by the 
baptist in the last clause of the sentence must mean 
a priority of time ; for the priority of dignity had been 
spoken of before ; and he proves that He was before 

* Matt. viii. 27. f John iii. 13—31 { 1 Cor. xv. 47. 

§ John xvi. 27, 28. || Heb. ii. 14-16. % Luke i. 36. 



94 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE, 



him, by this His pre-existence ; " for " (or because), 
saith he, " He was before me."* 

The apostle Peter in his first Epistle t declares, 
that it was by the Spirit of Christ in the Prophets, 
that they testified beforehand of His sufferings, and 
of the glory which should follow : and our Lord him- 
self in his prayer before he suffered,^ speaks expressly 
of the glory which he had with the Father before the 
world was : and on another occasion, when addressing 
the Jews, he said, "verily, verily, I say unto you, before 
Abraham was, I am." His not saying, I was, but, " I 
am," brings to mind the glorious name of God. " And 
God said unto Moses, I am, that I am ; thus shalt 
thou say to the children of Israel, Iam> hath sent me 
unto you."§ 

Many of the incommunicable attributes and per- 
fections which belong to the Most High God, are 
frequently in the Holy Scriptures ascribed to our 
blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Yes ! " He 
was the Lord and giver of life,"|| " the Immanuel, or 
God with us :"1T " the mighty God, the everlasting 
Father, and Prince of peace." The Lord expressed 
himself as being one with the Father, " I and my Fa- 
ther are one ;"** " he that hath seen me, hath seen 
the Father ;tt believest thou not, that I am in the 
Father, and the Father in me ?" Being in the form 

* John viii. 58. f 1 Peter i. 11. % John.xvii. 5. 

§ Exod. iii. 14. || Malt. i. 23. U Isa. ix. 6. 

** John x. 30.— xiv. 9, 10. ff John xiv. 9, 10. 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



95 



of God, (He) thought it not robbery to be equal with 
God, but made himself of no reputation, and took 
upon him the form of a servant, and was made in 
the likeness of men," &c* The same Apostle also 
observes, " for ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he 
became poor, that ye through his poverty might be 
rich."t (And this is he who was heir of all things, and 
by whom the worlds were made), yet in all things it be- 
hoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he 
might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in the 
things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for 
the sins^ of the people (mark) " for in that he himself 
hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour 
them that are tempted." j 

Again, the same Apostle says in the fourth chapter 
to the Hebrews, " Seeing then, that we have a great 
High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, 
the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For 
we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched 
with a feeling of our infirmities ; but was in all points 
tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us there- 
fore come boldly unto the throne, that we may ob- 
tain mercy and find grace to help in time of need :"§ 
" yet without sin." Herein was the fitness for ob- 
taining our salvation, and which is the crowning 
point of our redemption, and a clear evidence of his 

* Phil. ii. 7. \2 Cor. viii. 9. { Heb. ii. 17, 18. 

§ Heb. iv. 14, 15, 1(3. 



96 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



Godhead; for, "none is good save one, that is God." 
" There is not a just man upon earth that doeth good 
and sinneth not ;" therefore, since " all have sinned 
and come short of the glory of God:" how can any one 
out of this all, who are without exception trans- 
gressors against God, and have broken his Divine 
law, be able to take away sin and cleanse the sinner 
from all unrighteousness? for such we learn is the 
province of our Redeemer. Yes ! this was reserved 
only for the " Holy and pure One, begotten of the 
Father, full of grace and truth ; born, not of the cor- 
rupt seed of man, but according to the Divine pro- 
mise, brought forth of a virgin, that He might be a 
perfect head ; pure, holy, undefiled and separate from 
sinners." 

It is written, " the first man, Adam, was made a 
living soul ; the last Adam was made a quickening 
Spirit." " The first is of the earth, earthy : the second 
is the Lord from heaven." 

The first, by disobedience lost a blessed inheritance, 
the last, restored us to it as the purchase of his per- 
fect obedience, even unto death, the death of the cross. 
So it is written, " Christ was once offered to bear the 
sins of many ; and unto them that look for him shall 
he appear the second time without sin unto salva- 
tion."* He, our once crucified, but now risen and 
glorified Lord, " hath ascended up on high, hath led 
captivity captive, and received gifts for men, yea, for 

* Heb. ix. 28. 



i 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



97 



the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell 
among them."* 

This benefit we may see has been purchased for us, 
by the life, sufferings, and death of our Lord. Well 
might the Apostle say, " ye are not your own, for ye 
are bought with a price ; therefore, glorify God in 
your body and in your spirit, which are God's." 

The Apostle also says, speaking to those who had 
been aliens in time past from the commonwealth of 
Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise : 
"that at that time ye were without Christ," "having 
no hope, and without God in the world : but now, in 
Christ J^sus, ye who sometimes were afar off (speak- 
ing of both Jew and Gentile), are made nigh by the 
blood of Christ."t 

Here, again, is a true picture of a reconciling God. 
not only of the world unto himself, but of man to man, 
who were far off, but are now drawn into unity by 
the blood of Christ : for, as the same Apostle says, 
when writing to the Galatians ; " for ye are all the 
children of God by faith in Christ Jesus," in whom 
66 there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male 
nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus: and if 
ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs 
according to the promise. "% 

The Apostle, when writing to the Hebrews, speaks 
of the Old and the New Testament, and of two cove- 



* Ps. lxviii. 18. f Epb. ii. 12, 13. 

I Gal. iii. 26, 28, 29. 

F 



98 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



nants ; the first, which was not a perfect one, but suit- 
ed to the time being, and which was the shadow only 
of heavenly things : and observes, that Moses was ad- 
monished of God, when he was about to make the 
tabernacle, that he should make all things according 
to the pattern shewed to him in the mount.* 

We w r ill proceed to quote from the same chapter, 
as it will show the true nature of the new cove- 
nant, or, the present Gospel dispensation of the 
Spirit, as spoken of by the Prophets, and which 
is now introduced and in full operation through 
Jesus Christ, who is now declared to be our holy 
" High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the 
throne of the Majesty in the heavens ; a minister of the 
sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord 
pitched, and not man."f " For, if that first cove- 
nant had been faultless, then should no place have 
been sought for the second : for finding fault with 
them, he saith, behold, the days come, saith the 
Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not ac- 
cording to the covenant that I made with their fathers in 
the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out 
of the land of Egypt, because they continued not in my 
covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord: for 
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of 
Israel after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my 
laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts, 



* Heb. viii. 5. 



f lb. 1, 2. 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



99 



and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a 
people ; and they shall not teach every man his neigh- 
bour, and every man his brother, saying, know the 
Lord, for all shall know me, from the least to the 
greatest, for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, 
and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no 
more."* 

We may here remark the correspondence of this 
repetition of prophecy, with that state of regenera- 
tion spoken of by this Apostle, when writing to the 
Romans, in these words : — " For the law of the Spirit 
of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the 
law of ^sin and death."t As this portion of Scrip- 
ture has been before noticed, but not in connexion 
with the above prophecy, we will pass to another re- 
mark of this Apostle, in reference to the last para- 
graph of the above prophecy, where he adds ; " Now, 
where remission of these is (namely, sins and iniqui- 
ties), there is no more offering for sin," &c. We see 
by the testimony of this Apostle, that Jesus Christ 
was the only perfect offering for sin, acceptable to the 
pure God, " as a lamb without blemish and without 
spot."! Such was prescribed under the ritual law, 
which figure is now made plain to us by the Gospel 
light. 

The Apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Hebrew con- 
verts, has made the analogies very clear between the 

* Heb. viii. 11, 12. Comp. Jer. xxxi. 31—34. f Rom. viii. 2. 
♦ 1 Peter i. 19. 

F 2 



100 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



types of the ceremonial law and their fulfilment in the 
Gospel-day, which is well worth a serious considera- 
tion by the sincere inquirer. He was peculiarly qua- 
lified for the work assigned him, being a Hebrew of the 
Hebrews, brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, accord- 
ing to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, 
and instructed in the knowledge of the mysteries of 
the Gospel, by the immediate revelation of Jesus 
Christ, to prepare the minds of this people, who were 
so peculiarly interested, as being descended from 
those to whom the promises were given, and whose 
prejudices were so strongly set as a separate and dis- 
tinct people, that it required more than a common 
power to convince them that the promises were to ex- 
tend to the Gentiles also; that Christ had broken down 
the partition wall, and that all, both Jew and Gentile, 
should be one in him : even Peter was only convinced 
by a vision sent from God, w r hich was three times 
repeated, before he could acknowledge to the full ex- 
tent of the goodness of God in Christ Jesus, w r hen he 
testified to this important truth in these words : " Of 
a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of per- 
sons ; but in every nation, he that feareth him and 
worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. The 
word which God sent unto the children of Israel, 
preaching peace by Jesus Christ : (He is Lord of 
all.)"* 

We will now proceed to quote a certain portion of 



* Acts x. 34, 35, 36. 



OX FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE, 



101 



the epistle alluded to, which bears on our present sub- 
ject. The Apostle goes on to say,* " For it is not pos- 
sible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take 
away sins. Wherefore, when he corueth into the 
world, he saith, 'sacrifice and offering thou wouldest 
not, but a body hast thou prepared me : in burnt 
offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no plea- 
sure ; then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the 
book it is written of me), to do thy will, O God.' " Again 
— " above, when he said, sacrifice and offering and 
burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest 
not, neither hadst pleasure therein ; which are offered 
by the^law; then, said he, Lo, I come, to do thy will, 
O God. He taketh away the first, that he may esta- 
blish the second ; by the which will we are sancti- 
fied through the offering of the body- of Jesus Christ 

ONCE FOR ALL.' f 

* Heb. x. 4 to 10 inclusive, 
f A Roman Catholic in defence of the doctrine of the sacri- 
fice of the Mass for the " sins of the living and the dead," as 
held by their church ; remarked, 1 for his part, he could not con- 
ceive the existence of an altar, without a priest, or a priest 
without an altar,' and he added with apparent satisfaction, 4 that 
the Protestants had neither ;" which brought the following 
reply from a minister of the Scotch Church, viz. : — " It is true, 
that we have no material, or perishable altar, which, ' the moth 
and the rust may consume,' and which the ruthless invader may 
defile and overturn; but we have an altar which the unclean have 
no right to approach, and a sacrifice which none are able to de- 
stroy. We have a priest as well as an altar ; we have a priest, not 
like the priests of the Church of Rome, liable to all the passions 



102 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



Now, having gone thus far, I trust that the reader 
will be prepared to acknowledge, that in following 
Scripture, we are not following cunningly devised 
fables, but that it is, what it is said to be, inspir- 
ed by the Holy Spirit of truth, penned by faith- 
ful witnesses, chosen by God, to declare his will to 
each succeeding generation, and to make known his 
purposes to the children of men ; and that when his 
prophetic declarations are made manifest by their ful- 
filment, that men might fear, and obey, and believe of 
a truth, that verily, there is a God who reigneth and 
judgeth in the earth ; and that whatsoever he pur- 
poses he bringeth it to bear. 

The Scriptures set forth God's mercy and love to- 
wards us; they declare his gracious dealings from 
age to age on our behalf ; but they also declare his 
righteousness and holiness, and that without holiness 
it is impossible to please him — that he requires we 
should yield him our willing and unreserved alle- 



and imperfections of humanity, one succeding to the other by rea- 
son of death, and offering oftimes the same sacrifice which can 
never take away sins, but we have 4 a great High Priest that is 
passed into the heavens, 5 who once for all offered sacrifice for 
sin, and who now for ever sitteth at the Father's right hand to make 
intercession for us. Christ is at once our altar and our priest. If 
we have not the sacrifice, the altar and the priesthood of Rome, 
we have those of Christ, and all in Christ. We have an altar of 
far nobler material, a priesthood of more glorious attributes, and 
a sacrifice so consummate and so perfect, that it needed to l)e of- 
fered but once for all, and no more to the end of the world." 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 103 

giance, to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly be- 
fore him, acknowledging him in all our ways. Now we 
cannot, by nature, do this, since we are, in our fallen 
state, prone to evil. Hence arises that conflict be- 
tween the flesh and spirit treated of so fully by the 
Apostle in the Epistle to the Romans, chapters 7 and 
8. But for this conflict the Lord will strengthen us, 
and eventually give us the victory, but it must be in 
the way of his own appointing. The Apostle, in de- 
scribing this strife, says : — " I find then a law, that, 
when I would do good, evil is present with me ; for I 
delight in the law of God after the inward man : but 
I see atlother law in my members, warring against the 
law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to 
the law of sin which is in my members :" and to 
show to us our remedy (after his exclamation), " O, 
wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from 
the body of this death ? (he adds) I thank God 
through Jesus Christ our Lord," &c* t This con- 

* Rom. vii.21 — 25 ; viii. 
f " We shall not run the way of God's commandments till 
God himself enlarge our hearts. We do not, however, insist that 
the change required is such as precludes the possibility of falling 
into sin ; but it is a change which fixes in the soul such a dispo- 
sition as shall make sin a burden — as shall make the desire of 
pleasing God the governing desire of a man's heart — as shall 
make him hate the evil which he does — as shall make 
the lowness of his attainments the subject of his deepest 
sorrow. God, in changing the heart, does not extinguish the pas- 
sions. Were that the case, the Christian life would cease to be a 
warfare." — Hannah More. 



104 



ON FOLLOWING SCULPTURE. 



viction of our misery is the first step towards a deli- 
verance from it. So soon as we find ourselves sick 
we are half cured : for if we can but bring ourselves 
to go with humility to the physician, he has promised 
to give us freely every thing proper for our relief. He 
is both able and willing to cleanse the fountain of the 
heart from all its corruptions ; for, though man be 
miserable in himself, yet God hath not left him with- 
out a remedy.* We have not a hard master, expect- 
ing to reap where he has not sown, or to gather where 
he has not strewed. f 

What says the prophet ? " Therefore I will judge 

* W. Romaine. See Luke v. 31, 32. 
f We believe that God will not mete out to any of his sentient 
creatures eternal punishment to whom he hath not previously im- 
parted the power and the means to avoid it, however some may 
flippantly talk of original sin and its predestined victims of de- 
struction. 

Bishop Taylor says (and we unite in his observations), that 
" Since no church did ever enjoin to any catechumen any repent- 
ance for original sin, it seems horrible that any man should be 
damned for that for which no man is bound to repent." Such 
doctrine is contrary to the tenor and sense of Scripture, and has 
a tendency, in those who hold it, to lead them either to presump- 
tion or despair. Those who entertain and promulge such a doc- 
trine have caused the God of love and mercy to be evil spoken of, 
and which has been to many a great bar to the reception of 
Christianity. 

John Newton, on this subject, has this quaint but sensible re- 
mark : — " Many persons (says he) have puzzled themselves about 
the origin of evil ; I observe there is evil, and that there is a way 
to escape it ; and with this I begin and end." 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



105 



you, house of Israel, every one according to his 
ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn your- 
selves from all your transgressions, so iniquity shall 
not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your trans- 
gressions whereby ye have transgressed, and make 
you a new heart and a new spirit, for why will ye die, 

house of Israel ? For I have no pleasure in the 
death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God : where- 
fore turn yourselves, and live ye."* 

" Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil 
of your doings from before mine eyes ; cease to do 
evil, learn to do well ; seek judgment, relieve the op- 
pressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. 
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: 
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white 
as snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall 
be as wool." t 

The prophet Ezekiel, after speaking of the house 
of Israel having been rejected for their sins and the 
promise of their being restored, speaks of the bless- 
ings of Christ's kingdom after this sort. — " Then will 

1 sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be 
clean : from all your filthiness and from all your idols 
will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, 
and a new spirit will I put within you : and I will take 
away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give 
you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within 
you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye 



* Ezek. xviii. 30—32, 



t Isa. i. 16—18. 
F3 



106 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



shall keep my judgments and do them."* Jeremiah, 
the prophet, says, — " O Lord, I know that the way 
of man is not in himself : it is not in man that walketh 
to direct his steps." f The Psalmist also says, — 
" The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord ; 
and he delighteth in his way. The law of God is in 
his heart, none of his steps shall slide."t 

Here we may see, by the foregoing Scripture pas- 
sages, that in many instances our duties to our God 
and to each other are imperatively commanded as 
though we had both the will and the power, whilst in 
others it appears that we have neither will nor power, 
but are entirely dependant on God for both. The 
Apostle Paul tells the believers, " Work out your own 
salvation with fear and trembling," but he adds, " for 
it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do 
of his own good pleasure." § The prophet lately 
quoted speaks thus of the Lord, who had promised 
to work a blessing for the children of Israel in the 
coming gospel day, in these words : — " Then the 
heathen that are left round about you shall know that 
I, the Lord, build the ruined places and plant that 
that was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and 
I will do it." || " Thus saith the Lord God, I will 
yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to 
do it for them," &c.H 

Yes, whilst we acknowledge our dependence on 



* Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 31. f Jer. x. 23. + Ps. xxxvii. 23, 31, 
§ Phil. ii. 13. || Ezek. xxxvi. 36, 37. f lb. 35. 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



107 



God for all things, and have to acknowledge that of 
ourselves we can do nothing as of ourselves to please 
him, yet we shall all have to acknowledge that God 
has not been wanting on his part, that if we humble 
ourselves before him, and look to him for help and 
assistance, he will hear all who thus seek him,* 
How striking are the humble confession and prayer 
of the prophet, — " We are all as an unclean thing, 
and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and 
we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like 
the wind, have taken us away: and there is none 
that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself 
to take hold of thee, for thou hast hid thy face from 
us, and hast consumed us because of our iniqui- 
ties. But now, O Lord, thou art our father — we 
are the clay and thou our potter, and we all are 
the work of thy hand. Be not wroth very sore, O 
Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever : behold, 
see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people. "f This 
same prophet had said, in a chapter previous, " Seek 
ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon 

* " A serious desire of knowing the real truth, and a spirit of 
submission to this divine teaching, are things which the trnth re- 
quires of all who seek it. If you refuse this, you unreasonably 
refuse to Christianity her own mode and order of things ; you 
strip her of her arms and then complain of her feebleness and 
impotency. But if you submit to be the scholar of Jesus indeed, 
you will find, by experience, whether he will not give you to 
know the truth, and whether the truth will not make you free." — 
Milner. 

f Isa. lxiv. 6—9. 



108 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his 
way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let 
him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy 
upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly 
pardon."* # " By grace ye are saved through faith, 
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God ;"i 
and this, through the mercy of God, is effected by 
his son Jesus Christ in the manner already described. 

To enquire why the Most High has been pleased to 
operate by this mode rather than by any other, would 
be presumptuous on our part. It is sufficient for us 
to know that the grace of God produces these desir- 
able effects upon us,^ and that Holy Scriptures point 
out those truths, and invite, in strong language, our 
acceptance of their benefit. Those truths have been 
confirmed to us by miracles and prophecies § and our 
first lesson should be, that of the submission of our 
wills. They are, moreover, commended to us by the 
beneficial effects which they invariably produce on 
all who yield to their influence. Let these outward 
and inward proofs suffice. To require a more full de- 

* Isa. lv. 6, 7. f Eph. ii. 5. + Appendix (R). 

§ " As the preservation of the Old Testament from infringe- 
ment, abridgement, or addition was an important part of the re- 
ligion of the Jews, and they were, as a nation, entirely opposed 
to the Messiah in his outward appearance, it is a memorable 
proof of the authenticity of those records, leaving no room for 
the charge, or suspicion, of collusion on their part in handing 
them down to us.''— G. D. 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



109 



rnonstration would be to prescribe to him that mode 
which he himself has not thought fit to choose. 

" My son, give me thine heart," is the Scripture 
language to us. It is not needful for me to enter 
more at large into the evidence of prophecy by giving 
extracts from the prophetic writings, and it is, we 
may rejoice to say, less needful in this day, in which 
the Holy Scriptures so much abound, and are at- 
tainable by all who desire to look into them. It 
would be very profitable to the serious inquirer to 
" read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" the pro- 
phetic part of the holy writings, as far as they relate to 
the coming, office, and character of our blessed Re- 
deemer; and to compare them with the account given 
in the writings of the Evangelists of his birth, life, 
miracles, ministry, sufferings, and death;* f and also 

* Appendix (S). 
f I have, at this part, made a reference to an extract from W. 
Jones, where he gives a brief view of prophecy. I might also 
have referred to Newton, Keith, or some others on this head, all 
of whom may be said to be valuable to such as are not satisfied 
but with this kind of evidence ; yet I should rather recommend 
my readers to that mode which I have pointed out, namely, to the 
Divine oracles themselves ; for in our researches here we meet 
with no dry or monotonous matter, but with delightful and re- 
freshing streams by the way. But the above writers I have 
quoted, as well as those to whom I have referred, are not to be 
slighted or despised, for they have been eminently useful, and 
appear to have well filled up the part which has been assigned 
them in the ordering of Providence ; for in the varied minds and 
dispositions of men there are some who seem disposed to be sa- 



110 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



with the subsequent writings of the Apostles, as they 
refer to the effects of his grace and Holy Spirit's in- 
fluence on the churches which were raised up (we 
might almost say) simultaneously after our Lord's re- 
surrection, when the gift of his Holy Spirit was poured 
out upon the new converts. 

The Holy Scriptures will be read to little purpose 
unless we come to Christ of whom they testify, for 
this was the great design of their being written, and 
not only will they prove unprofitable, but, if slighted 
and despised, they will indeed be our condemnation. 

Our Divine master, in those words already quoted, 
says, " Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye 
have eternal life, and they are they which testify of 
me ;" may none who peruse them fall under that con- 
cluding reproof which he addressed to the outward 
professing Jews of that day, " ye will not come to 
me, that ye might have life :" but, seeing that the 



tisfied with nothing short of occular and tangible evidence, and 
to whom we are not enabled to offer more than strong presump- 
tive probabilities, which, combined together, nearly approach to 
demonstrative proof. The goodness and mercy of God has con- 
descended, as far as his Divine wisdom has seen meet to satisfy 
the doubting mind, particularly such as do desire enlightenment 
in the truth. As a proof, see an example, John xx. 24 to the 
end of the chapter. 

N.B. I would here recommend a small tract, of four pages 
only, being an extract from an address of J. J. Gurney to the 
mechanics of Manchester, on Christianity. It would well repay 
the reader's attention. — E. Marsh, Hounsditch. 



ON FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. 



Ill 



Scriptures point to these things, and by the aid and 
openings of that Divine Spirit by which they were 
given forth, bring us, as it were, to the entrance into 
the second covenant. 

Let those who would be truly Christians, enter in 
thereat, and become willing to follow Christ through 
that more glorious dispensation which stands not "in 
meats and drinks, and divers washing, and carnal or- 
dinances," but is pure, spiritual, and powerful, and is 
experimentally known to be righteousness, peace, and 
joy in the Holy Ghost." " The Spirit and the bride 
say, come : and let him that heareth say, come : and 
let him that is athirst, come : and whosoever will, let 
him take the water of life freely."* 



* Rev.xxii. 17. 



112 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST, 



CHAPTER V. 

ON FOLLOWING CHRIST j UNDER WHICH HEAD ARE 
CONSIDERED THE FURTHER STAGES OF 
CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 



" Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of 
God." John, iii. 3. 

" Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorrupti- 
ble, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." 
1 Peter, i. 23. 

" God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in 
time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days 
spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all 
things, by whom also he made the worlds; who, being the bright- 
ness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and up- 
holding all things by the word of his power, when he had by him- 
self purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty 
on high." Heb. i. 1, 2, 3. 

The following of Christ is a spiritual travail, in 
which the soul experiences being purified and made 
fit to be received into its Father's kingdom, where, it 
is said, no unclean thing can enter. Now, my dear 
friends, let us beware that we limit not the work of 
our divine Saviour, by supposing that, when he offer- 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



113 



ed himself upon the cross, all relative to his media- 
torial office was accomplished by him ; it is true he 
said "it is finished,' 1 when he yielded up his spirit, 
and it is true that the work he had to do in the flesh 
was accomplished ; he had before said he had finish- 
ed the work given him to do, and desired to be glo- 
rified again with his heavenly Father with that glory 
he had with him before the world was, there only re- 
maining one thing more to consummate his earthly 
mission, which was to give himself a ransom for all, 
and that by breaking the bars of death, he might open 
for us the gates of eternal life. A short time before 
that perfect sacrifice, he said to his diciples, " I have 
yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear 
them now. Howbeit (saith he), when he, the Spirit 
of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth."* 
" It is expedient for you that I go away ; for if I go 
not away the Comforter will not come unto you ; but 
if I depart I will send him unto you."f " I will not 
leave you comfortless ; I will come to you."t What 
were these words but plain indications that his work 
in the souls of men was not completed, when he had fi- 
nished, by his propitiatory sacrifice and death on the 
cross, what he came in the world to do in that pre- 
pared body ; the latter was only preparatory to the 
former. How different were the views of the disci- 
ples after they had received a dispensation of that 
spirit of truth which was to guide them into all truth; 



* John xvi. 12, 13. f Ibid, verse 7. i John xiv. 18. 



114 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



under the former dispensation they were imperfect 
and poor pupils, but under this superior dispensation 
of the Spirit, they became wise master builders under 
that holy head, or in other words, were made perfect 
in Christ ; the veil of types and shadows was re- 
moved, and they could more clearly see into the 
mysteries of redeeming love. The law was said to 
be a schoolmaster until Christ came, and so was 
every dispensation preceding this last. God, ever 
merciful and indulgent, has adapted his dispensations 
to the weakness and frailties of his creature man, to 
prepare him for the reception of gospel light, when 
the fulness of time was come for Christ to be mani- 
fested in the flesh, " The law and the prophets were 
until John : since that time the kingdom of God is 
preached."* John the Baptist was only a forerunner 
and harbinger of the Messiah, and came baptizing 
with outward and elementary water unto repentance, 
which was typical of the spiritual baptism of Christ, 
which cleanses and purges the heart, making it fit 
for the holy Spirit to dwell in. All these outward 
and ceremonial laws, washings and ordinances, 
were parts of those typical dispensations, suited to a 
weak state, until that which was perfect was come. 
John plainly told those who came unto him that he 
must decrease, but that Christ must increase, and di- 
rected their attention from his own elementary bap- 
tism to that spiritual baptism which was to purge 



* Luke xvi. 16. 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



115 



and purify the soul, bum up the chaff, and separate 
the precious from the vile ; strongly pointing to the 
dispensation of the Spirit, which was then about to 
be more fully ushered in, when the only true baptism 
would be of the Holy Ghost and of fire, or of that 
word which is "quick and powerful, and sharper than 
any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing 
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and mar- 
row, and (which) is a discemer of the thoughts and 
intents of the heart."* It is thus Zion is redeemed 
with judgment, and her converts with righteousness, 
according to the word of the Lord by his prophet : 
"I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge 
away thy dross, and take away all thy tin."t And 
unto them who are thus exercised, it vieldeth in the 
end the peaceable fruit of righteousness; it brings all, 
according to their several measures, into the divine 
harmony. The Apostle observes, " There is one 
body, and one spirit, one Lord, one faith, one bap- 
tism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, 
and through all, and in you affl. w J This is the true 
state of the church of Christ; the a new earth where- 
in dwelleth righteousness ;" and although it may be 
much hidden from our view, nevertheless, the foun- 
dation of God standeth sure, having this seal, tile 
Lord knoweth them that are his. Now if we are 
truly baptized into Christ we have put on Christ ; 
for as the Apostle expresses it, we are baptized into 



* Heb. iv. 12. 



f Tsa. i. 25. 



♦ Eph. iv. 4— 6. 



116 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



his death, therefore we are buried with him by bap- 
tism into death : that like as Christ was raised up 
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we 
also should walk in newness of life."* Seeing, then, 
dear friends, we are called to this new and living 
way through this baptism into death, let us be wil- 
ling to submit to the divine operations. Now what 
is this baptism into death, but a death unto self and 
unto sin, and what is this new life, but a divine birth 
from above, whereby we are begotten again in Christ 
Jesus, as the Scriptures testify. 

The Apostle says, " Henceforth know we no man 
after the flesh ; yea, though we have known Christ 
after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no 
more."f I believe the apostle wished to impress on 
the minds of the faithful, the necessity to follow on 
to know the Lord to be present with us by his grace 
and Holy Spirit : that now he had laid down his 
body of flesh, having faithfully performed all that the 
Father had given him to do in that capacity, for our 
sakes, (without us) ; he is no longer our suffering 
Lord, but our risen and glorified Emanuel, God with 
us, and intercessor for us, that we should, indeed, 
look to him as come in the Spirit to carry on his gra- 
cious work, and that, as he had appeared iij the flesh 
to blot out the hand writing of ordinances that was 
against us, nailing them to his cross, to put away sin 
by the sacrifice of himself, so he would come again 

* Rom, vh 3, 4. f 2 Cor. v. 16. 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



117 



in spirit, according to his promise, to all who turned 
not a deaf ear to the reproofs of instruction ; com- 
pleting salvation by his cleansing, purifying and 
sanctifying power. This is indeed the true follow- 
ing of Christ in the regeneration and newness of 
life.* Many can follow him in the history, trace him 
from his swaddling clothes in the manger, to the 
cross on Mount Calvary, admire his life and his mi- 
racles, and appear mightily affected at his sufferings 
and death, and fain would cover themselves with the 
robe of Christ's righteousness imputed, while they 
retain their old natures; but the language is, "Ye 
must be born again." He came not to cloak sin, but 
to take it away, by quickening our life, and renewing 
our natures, that so we may experience his robe to 
be a robe of righteousness indeed, and our covering 
to be that of his Spirit. What did his holy Spirit 
work in him but the will of his heavenly Father ? If 
we then receive it, and are obedient unto it, it will 

* " Kegeneration " (says a pious writer on the doctrine of di- 
vine influences), " or the new birth, is the communication of a 
new principle of spiritual life to the soul, whereby, as St. Peter 
expresses it, we are made partakers of a divine nature." 

The same writer goes on to say, " conversion, which supposes 
the former (since life must be prior to action) is the turning from 
sin to holiness — from Satan to God. And repentance, which is 
nearly the same, strictly signifies a change of mind, attended 
with a change of conduct. It is that disposition of heart where- 
by 1 the wicked man turneth from his wickedness, and doth that 
which is lawful and right.'" — I. W. 



118 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



also work the same will in us ; for it is the same yes- 
terday, to-day, and for ever ; the same divine power, 
its name is one in the creature as in the Redeemer, 
according to the measure received : we, as finite 
beings, have it but in measure ; he, our holy head, 
without measure, for in him alone the fulness of the 
godhead dwelt bodily, and of his fulness (says the 
Apostle) have all we received. 

Is there, then, danger of our ascribing to ourselves 
any holiness ? No, the direct contrary ; of our- 
selves, we acknowledge we can do nothing, that all 
our works of righteousness are wrought by the Spirit 
of God, through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ; 
that by grace alone, we are saved through faith, and 
that not of ourselves, it being the gift of God. It is 
Christ that worketh in us, both to will and to do, of 
his own good pleasure ; thus do his own works, in 
and by us, praise him, who is our justification, sanc- 
tification and redemption; and without a life of right- 
eousness derived into us from him, an outward im- 
puted righteousness will prove in the end a fatal 
delusion. For "his servants ye are to whom ye 
obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience un- 
to righteousness. For the wages of sin is death ; but 
the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ 
our Lord." "For God hath given to us eternal life, 
and this life is in his Son ; he that hath the Son hath 
life ; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not 



* Bom. vi. 16, 23. 



OX FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



119 



life."* This is not by imputation without, a real par- 
ticipation, for " Hereby (saith the Apostle) know we 
that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath 
given us of his Spirit."t 

This it is that unites us with Christ our holy head, 
and to one another in him ; for by one Spirit we are 
all baptized into one body ; this is the unity of that 
living faith which works by love, because it comes 
from the fountain of love. " For God is love," J and 
nothing availeth in Christ Jesus but faith which 
worketh by love, not a mere creaturely affection, but 
a pure, holy flame flowing from the love of God in 
Christ Jesus, and which will flow from vessel to ves- 
sel, to the edifying of the body in love ; and he who 
liveth in this love is said to be born of God, because 
we possess it not in our unregenerate state, neither 
can attain it by our own strength. Pure love is the 
mark of true religion, 

Which hypocrites could ne ? er attain, 
Which false professors never kuew.'' 

This love is said to be a fulfill er of the law, because 
it is a living principle which is not satisfied to rest 
short of a perfect man in Christ, but leads all, who 
are willing to follow it in their several measures, in- 
to every good word and work. To be influenced by 
the spirit of divine love, ought therefore to be what 



* 1 John v. 10—12. f 1 Cov - vi - 17 - * 1 Jonn iv - 7 



120 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



the christian should most desire and pray for, that he 
may be made perfect therein. The Scriptures, in- 
deed, abound (more particularly the apostolical 
writings) with this theme, that " He who runs may 
read and after all these testimonies and much more 
which could be adduced, are there any professors of 
the christian name that would sit supinely down, 
under the idea that it is sufficient that Christ has 
atoned for them by his death on the cross, and be 
content with applying his righteousness outwardly 
imputed to them, without being regenerated by him, 
without suffering themselves to be sanctified by his 
purifying power, without receiving "with meekness 
that ingrafted word which is able to save the soul " 
by its cleansing virtue, whereby we are made meet 
to be received into the kingdom of bliss ? Let us not 
deceive ourselves, lest at the end of time the fatal 
concluding sentence should be pronounced against 
us, " He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, and he 
which is filthy, let him be filthy still."* Some may 
think by the above that I do not adequately value 
the doctrine of the atonement; that doctrine, I think, 
has been sufficiently spoken to in the preceding 
chapters ; but let us attend to the whole, and not a 
part only, of the great work of our salvation by 
Christ ; let us consider well what he did by his death 
and sufferings ; he redeemed us from the curse of the 
law that we might receive the promise of the Spirit 



*Rev. xxii. 11. 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



121 



through faith ; "he gave himself for us (mark) that 
he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify un- 
to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works."* 
This is the end of our atonement, seeing the curse of 
the law has now nothing to do with those that are in 
Christ Jesus, " who walk not after the flesh but after 
the Spirit," for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ 
Jesus hath made them free from the law of sin and 
death, for if ye are led by the Spirit ye are not under 
the law. But my dear friends, we have a race to 
run, a travail to perform, "let us" (then endeavour to) 
"run with patience the race which is set before us."t 
The children of Israel would never have reached the 
land of Canaan had they remained in Egypt under 
the promise only, but they had their Red Sea to pass 
through, their droughts and difficulties in the wilder- 
ness to contend with ; yet the Lord was their guide, 
as a cloud by day and as a pillar of fire by night ; 
they were fed with manna from heaven, and their 
bitter waters were made sweet. 

This is a lively type and representation of the 
christian travellers ; they also have their sea to pass 
through, their droughts and difficulties to contend 
with, their spiritual enemies to overcome : but the 
promised Comforter is with them in their tribula- 
tions, they have their consolations; Christ is their 
spiritual Moses, the giver of the law of Spirit and life, 
their bread from heaven to sustain them through the 

* Titus ii. 14. f Heb. xii. 1. 

G 



122 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



wilderness of this world, the Rock from whence flow 
fountains of living water to refresh in a weary land, 
and finally, like Joshua, he will be their captain and 
deliverer, and thus by faith in his all-sufficient pow- 
er, the true christian is guided by him to the promised 
land of rest and peace. Christ, when personally on 
earth, said, "He that will be my disciple, let him de- 
ny himself, take up his cross and follow me this 
was the condition of discipleship with him, and ever 
remains to be ; there is no other way to the Father 
but by and through the Son, who alone is the media- 
tor between God and man. 

This is an individual work, no one can do it for 
us ; we must come, we must follow, we must deny 
ourselves and give up ; when the divine will is made 
known it will not do for the disciple to cast about 
for frivolous questions ; even Peter, although called 
of the Lord and chosen, met with a rebuke from 
his divine Master after he was risen, and had been 
giving him a serious charge. Peter, on asking 
"And what shall this man do ? (see John, xxi. 19 to 
22) 3 was reproved by our Lord in these words : " If I 
will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? 
follow thou me." 

Now let us consider the cause of the necessity of 
denying self, taking up the cross and following 
Christ, and what is meant thereby, seeing this is the 
straight gate that leadeth to eternal life. 

Man, as before observed, first departed from God 
by self-will, and thereby entrance was given to sin, 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



128 



to fleshly vanities and worldly lusts; and these still 
rivet us to earth and earthly things, hence the neces- 
sity of being quickened and born again by the Spirit 
of Christ; in which renewed state heavenly aspira- 
tions are raised in us after the enjoyment of that pure 
bliss from which Adam fell.* As man fell by unbe- 
lief and pride, he must return by faith and humility ; 
as worldly lusts chain him to temporal and transitory 
things, he must be raised therefrom by spiritual de- 
sires for heavenly things ; and this is the blessed 
change that would be wrought in those who come to 
the Father by the Son, the eternal Word, will and 
wisdom of the Father. " I came," said he, not to do 
my own will, but the will of him that sent me."t And 
again, " I and my Father are one."t Here was but 
one spirit ; and even in his most painful agony he 
said, " Not my will but thine be done ;" thus sub- 
mitting himself in all things (even to the death of the 
cross) to the will of his heavenly Father. 

" Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example that 
we should follow his steps."§ If we are true follow- 
ers' of Christ, we must take up the cross to our 
natural wills, and deny ourselves in every selfish 

* A pious writer has observed that " Thirst for good will natu- 
rally lead to good. To excite this thirst, then, seems the first ob- 
ject. To a mind not thirsty spiritual writings are, I believe, 
often very dull and insipid; — to a mind in which the thirst is ex- 
cited, they are indeed as a brook by the way, very precious, very 
sweet and very reviving/' 

t John xi. 38. f Ibid. x. 30. § 1 Peter ii. 21. 

G 2 



124 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



propensity ; but how hard is this to the natural man : 
hence the necessity there is for a redeeming power, 
for a spiritual baptism, for a descent, as it were, of 
the dove-like nature upon us ; but the apostle says, 
" A. manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man 
to profit with," and also that our bodies are temples 
for the Holy Ghost to dwell in. Oh that men would 
but look inward, and wait for the power of this in- 
dwelling spirit, and silently attend to its inspeaking 
voice ; they would then find they had an inward 
guide, sufficient in wisdom, in power and in righteous- 
ness, to direct, uphold and keep them from the nume- 
rous temptations, lusts and vanities of time and sense; 
then would they be experimentally acquainted with 
the meaning of that parable expressed by our Lord, 
when he said " The kingdom of heaven is like unto 
leaven which a woman took and hid in three mea- 
sures of meal, till the whole was leavened ;* surely 
our Mediator spake of his own spiritual power, as 
the purifier, sanctifier and regulator ; and our body, 
soul, and spirit, as the recipients of its divine opera- 
lions. See 1 Thess. v. 23, 24. 

The apostle saith, " If ye live after the flesh, ye 
shall die, but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the 
deeds of the body ye shall live, for as many as are 
led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God 
here, then, is a test whereby we may know whether 
we are followers of Christ in the true sense of the 



* Matt. xiii. 33. 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



125 



apostle, that is, being led by his holy, indwelling Spi- 
rit ; and if so, we may with holy confidence say, in 
the spirit of adoption, Abba, Father; for the apostle 
says the Spirit of God beareth witness with our spirit, 
that we are the children of God." 

Our blessed Lord, when personally on earth, said 
to his disciples, " Learn of me, for I am meek and 
lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest unto your 
souls if we were but willing to receive his instruc- 
tions, we should need no other teacher, for he teaches 
us as never man taught, and in his school we should 
be made wise unto salvation : for those injunctions 
of Christ, " Learn of me," " follow me," &c, were not 
confined to the time of his outward personal appear- 
ance, but extend also to his spiritual appearance in 
the heart; for he saith "Lo I am with you alway, 
even to the end of the world." All this is consonant 
with the gospel dispensation, the new covenant 
which God promised to his people, as declared 
through the mouth of the prophet, which has been 
already adverted to, but which will not be out of its 
place to introduce here : " Behold the days come, 
saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with 
the house of Israel and the house of Judah, for this is 
the covenant that I will make after those days saith the 
Lord, I will put my laws in their minds, and write them 
in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they 
shall be to me a people, and they shall not teach 
every man his neighbour and every man his brother, 
saying, know the Lord, for they shall all know me 



126 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



from the least to the greatest."*f Thus we see how 
clearly this spiritual dispensation is pointed out in 
the prophetic writings, and the necessity of having 
the Spirit of God for our counsellor and guide into 
all truth, and out of all error. But men have too ge- 
nerally rejected the Lord from being their teacher, 
and have fulfilled the prediction of the apostle, who 
saith, 66 For the time will come when they will not 
endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall 
they heap to themselves teachers, having itching 
ears, and shall turn away their ears from the truth, 
and shall be turned unto fables :" and is not this a 
principal cause of the various systems and opinions 
that have so grievously divided the christian world 
into opposing sects, and have destroyed, in great 
measure, that unity which the Spirit of Truth leads 
into ? Oh that men who profess to believe in the 
Scriptures of Truth would but act consistently there- 
with, and turn their mind inward, commune with their 
own hearts and be still ; that they would but come 
into this new dispensation, of which it is said, Christ, 
the holy anointed of God, is high priest for ever after 
the order of Melchizedec ; and those who come unto 
him need no other, for the apostle John saith, " The 
anointing which ye have received of him abideth in 

* Jer. xxxi. 31, 33, 34. 
f " I have ever thought there has heen [but] one true religion 
in the world, and that is the work of the Spirit of God in the 
hearts and souls of men. — Bulstrode Whitelocke. 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



127 



you, and ye need not that any man teach you :* but 
as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and 
is truth and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, 
ye shall abide in him."t Again, " He that abideth in 
him, ought himself also so to walk even as he walk- 
ed :" and the same apostle further says, " He that 
saith I know him, and keepeth not his command- 
ments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him ; but who- 
soever keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of 
God perfected : hereby know we that we are in him." 
Mark this, ye who are professors in words only, but 
who want the life ; here practice is made the proof of 
a real participation of the essence of the religion of 
Christ ; his criterion is, "By their fruits ye shall know 

* Let no one think from this passage that we mean to infer 
ministers are not necessary under the gospel dispensation ; no, we 
thankfully acknowledge the truth of the apostolic declaration that 
Christ hath appointed " some apostles ; and some prophets ; and 
some evangelists ; and some pastors and teachers ; for the perfect- 
ing of the saints, for the work of the ministry, and for the edify- 
ing of the body of Christ : till we all come into the unity of the 
faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God ; unto a perfect man, 
unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:'' these, 
indeed, are a strength and treasure to the church ; for, saitli the 
apostle Peter, " Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you al- 
ways in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and 
be established in the present truth, yea, I think it meet as long as 
I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remem- 
brance.'' And for these ends they are appointed to bring us to 
Christ, and to establish us on that rock of our salvation. 

f 1 John ii. 27. 



128 ON FOLLOWING CHEIST. 

them," we are to show our faith by our obedience. 
It is true, without faith nothing is perfected, nor will 
any work profit if not wrought in it, but a right living 
faith consummates and perfects all things ; it ani- 
mates and stimulates us to go forward, to press to- 
wards the mark for the prize of our high calling. 
But there is a dry, barren faith, that lulls the posses- 
sor into the fatal security of slothful ease ; well would 
it be for such, if they would but follow the advice of 
the apostle, " Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue 
knowledge, and to knowledge temperance ; and to 
temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and 
to godliness brotherly kindness ; and to brotherly 
kindness charity; for if these things be in you and 
abound, they make you that ye shall neither be bar- 
ren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus 
Christ." 

Our blessed Lord said, " Not every one that saith 
unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of 
heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father 
which is in heaven." Now what is said on this head 
is chiefly to those who profess a belief in the Scrip- 
tures of Truth, and much of its weight may be unfelt 
by such as disbelieve Scripture evidence ; yet de- 
ists may perceive the difference betwixt notional and 
pure Christianity : they may judge between the living 
and the dead. Now as it is to the living, operative 
principles of Christianity I wish to call their attention, 
I hope they will not raise up the dead images thereof 
(as is too often done) in their own imaginations, to 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



129 



oppose, bat stand open to conviction, and close 
in with the portion of truth which may impress their 
minds, however small that portion may be. 

I have heard many deists descant on moral duties 
and on moral virtues, both public and domestic. I 
call not their attention to a long string of popular 
virtues, but to that inward quickening spirit, that in- 
centive spring to all moral virtue, to that secret im- 
pulse to goodness, to the Spirit of Christ within. 
Call it by whatever name we will, it is still that eter- 
nal, never-dying principle of the divine nature which 
visits the soul, the Comforter to those who obey it, a 
spirit of reproof and condemnation to those who wil- 
fully rebel against it. It does not reveal to us the 
whole truth at once, but as we are able to bear it ; 
its requirings are simple ; we are neither to stay be- 
hind, nor outrun our divine guide and teacher ; but 
simply to follow his motions in our steppings along 
through time. For as no servant need burden his 
mind with a collection of written rules and regula- 
tions for his duty, whose master is ever with him to 
direct him, so a complex system of morals is not ne- 
cessary to such as are concerned to follow the gui- 
dance of the Spirit of Christ. " My sheep," saitli 
Christ, " hear my voice and follow me and this is 
the reason why so many poor and simple (in the 
world's estimation) confound the wisdom of the wise 
by the regularity of their lives and conversations, 
while the speculating moralist, who builds upon theo- 
ry, and trusts to his own natural strength, fails in 

G 3 



130 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



the day of trial, because he will be virtuous in his 
own way and time, and often deviates from his plan- 
ned schemes and resolutions, either through the calls 
of self interest or passions ; or perhaps some newly 
devised project dashes in pieces his former designs. 

The deist may here object, and say, I represent 
man as a mere machine, thereby destroying his moral 
agency. I mention this objection because I believe 
it hath done much mischief, and in answer thereto I 
say, all mankind are servants : to our own master we 
must stand or fall, we must either serve God or Be- 
lial ; herein consists our free agency, that we have 
freedom of choice whose servants we will be, w T hether 
God's or Belial's. " Life and death are set before 
thee, choose which thou wilt." Here is fallen na- 
ture ; here the gift of grace ; if thou choose the for- 
mer thou w r ilt be a slave rather than servant, tyran- 
nized over either by ambition, pleasure, lust, interest, 
anger, revenge, or some other jarring passions, from 
all which the gospel of Christ sets us free. In his 
service there is perfect freedom ; for if we are bound 
it is only to that which is good and ensures our hap- 
piness, whereas, on the other hand, if they be free, it 
is from that which is good ; whilst they are slaves to 
their evil propensities they have all things to dread ; 
the christian all things to hope. It is true we have 
nothing to boast of ; Christ is all in all, to him be the 
glory, Amen : because it is his holy, righteous Spirit 
that worketh in us, both to will and to do of his own 
good pleasure. 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



131 



It is said in Scripture, " The grace of God that 
bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching 
us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we 
should live soberly, righteously and godly in this 
present world this is that universal grace or divine 
principle that bringeth salvation, and preaches to the 
inward states and conditions of men ;* here no scho- 
lastic learning is wanted, no systems to be explained, 
but so plain is its import, that the most simple mind 
may comprehend its duty ; it hath preached to all 
without exception. I appeal to the hearts of every 
one for the truth of the above, because all must know 
whether this light, which convinces us of evil, hath 
not, at some time or other, appeared in their hearts, 
teaching them, that denying ungodliness and worldly 
lusts, they ought to live soberly, righteously and god- 
ly in this present world. Now if any are obliged to 
confess that they have received at seasons impres- 
sions of this nature, secret intimations that they were 
going wrong, and have heard something like the voice 
of instruction, pointing out a better way, but that 
they have turned a deaf ear to the reproof, and slight- 
ed the voice of wisdom, because it condemned their 
pleasures, and tended to limit their sensual enjoy- 
ments : they have confessed that light hath come into 
the world, but that they have loved darkness rather 
than light, because their deeds were evil. It is not 
till the mind becomes humbled and softened that we 



* Appendix (T). 



132 



ON FOXLOWIxSIG CHRIST. 



submit to the truth and power of this divine light. 
This is the time of visitation ; for God giveth grace 
unto the humble ; if we were but patient under this 
humbling dispensation, strength would grow out of 
weakness. Christ hath said, unless ye become as 
little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of hea- 
ven ; but the pride of man cannot bear this child- 
like state; he would call God Father, without de- 
pendance on, or obedience to, his divine requirings, 
and becomes too proud to receive instruction from 
above. 

But although grace, which is a divine gift, is saving 
in its nature and operation, it is only thus efficacious 
through faith. " By grace are ye saved through faith, 
and that not of yourselves : it is the gift of God."* 
No good thing can take root in an unbelieving mind, 
in a mind where neither love, hope, trust, or confi- 
dence resides. " He that cometh to God must be- 
lieve that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them 
that diligently seek him."t To build, without hav- 
ing these first simple articles of faith as a basis, would 
be like raising a superstructure on sand ; but where 
these are truly, simply, and sincerely received, there 
is a foundation for hope, " for the hand of our God is 
upon all them for good, that seek him." J Let the re- 
flecting deist (and such I hope there are) if he hath 
attained to this portion of faith herein described by 



* Eph. ii. 3. 



f Heb. xi. 6. 



+ Ezra viii. 22. 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



133 



the Apostle, examine his own heart* with the 
torch of truth, search into the working of his own 
will and affections, and see if they are so free from 
corruption and evil, as to be acceptable to a God of 
purity and perfection. Can he bring his deeds to the 
light, and say they are conceived in purity, and exe- 

* 4i The heart " (says a writer on Divine Influences, before quot- 
ed) " is the spring of action. Hence a devotedness of heart im- 
plies a course of obedience to the divine will. If, says this writer 
(in a preceding sentence) I were to define 'What is religion?' I 
should call it a devotedness of heart to God. This is the essence 
of religion. A practical regard to the precepts of morality — 
a respectful attention to positive institutions — a hearty acquies- 
cence in the gospel method of salvation. The misapprehension 
of this matter has occasioned many dangerous mistakes. Some, 
seeing only the external part of religion (as moral and religious 
duties), have unhappily taken it for the whole, and rested in these 
things, which, alas ! are but " the form of godliness,'' and may 
subsist without the power/' 

" It remains, then, that we inquire for the seat of true religion 
in the heart; where it illuminates the understanding, rectifies the 
affections, expands the soul, and evidences itself in a holy walk 
and conversation. This religion we call experimental, for the 
same reason that we apply the term to certain branches of sci- 
ence ; namely, because it is not founded in speculation or conjec- 
ture, but on a real and sensible experience of divine things; call- 
ed by the Psalmist a tasting and seeing that the Lord is good. 
Since the whole of this is considered in Scripture as the work of 
the Spirit of God, our subject becomes necessarily connected with 
the doctrine of divine influences; and that again implies the doc- 
trine of the fall, or the natural depravity of man, and his incapa- 
city to recover himself to holiness and to God/' — I. W. On Di- 
vine Influences, dedicated to Sir Richard Hill, Bart.,M. P., 1795. 



134 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



cuted in righteousness ? Can he dare to say, " I have 
made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin VI If he 
can, let him lay claim to heaven, as a reward of his 
own perfections, without the help of a redeemer, or 
the aid of his divine grace. But if, on the contrary, 
after such an examination, he is obliged to confess 
that the whole frame of his nature is corrupt; that 
the motives which influence his best actions, so far 
from being pure and disinterested, mostly originate in 
self ; that his passions are often discordant, and, to 
have them rightly regulated, they require more than 
human power and human policy (a policy, which it- 
self is often a deceitful blandishment) ; and if, after 
such a review of his own nature within, though he 
may in the eye of the world be accounted civilized 
and rsfined, he should contemplate the multifarious 
evils in the great world without, the violence and tu- 
mults of factions, the devastations by wars of nations 
against nations, the treacheries and murders of indivi- 
duals against individuals, the cupidity of the rich and 
powerful to gratify the lust of the flesh, the lust of the 
eye and the pride of life," oppressing and grinding 
the face of the poor ; will he still say that nature 
wants no corrective power but what it inherits of it- 
self? Oh ! how are the evils that are in the world 
deplored by many, who, notwithstanding, disbelieve 
in that divine spirit and principle which alone could 
redeem them from evil. 

" From whence come wars and fightings among 
you ? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



135 



war in your members ?"* And if this be the root, 
must it not be destroyed before you can expect to be 
redeemed from its evils ? When you see the compli- 
cated crimes of nations, you only see your own hearts 
as in a magnifying mirror. 

" As brooks to rivers, rivers run to seas." 

They are only a collection of individual crimes ; and 
as sparks gathered on a heap kindle into flame, so do 
the jarring interests and corrupt dispositions of hu- 
man nature. Ye who would avoid the pollutions of 
the world, and keep unspotted from its filthy prac- 
tices, impure pleasures and pursuits ; who would re- 
sist its contagion, and breathe a purer air than any 
wafted over its infected surface ; take heed unto your 
ways according to his word, and say not in thy heart 
who shall ascend into heaven r that is, to bring 
Christ down from above ; or who shall descend into 
the deep ? that is, te bring Christ again from the 
dead. But what saith it ? The word is nigh thee, 
even in thy mouth and in thy heart. "t " Know ye 
not your own selves, 11 saith the apostle, "how that 
Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates ?" 
All have a measure of light or life of the divine nature 
within them, according to their attainments or 
growths in Christ, except they are reprobates; that 
is, "such as have their understandings darkened, and 



* James iii. 1 . 



t Rom. x. 8. 



{ 2 Cor. xii!. 5. 



136 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



being alienated from the life of God, through the ig- 
norance that is in them, because of the blindness of 
their hearts," are become past feeling. 

Now, my dear friends, after exploring the secret 
springs of evil, and finding they have their source 
from a corruption in our nature which requires more 
than human strength to cleanse it; such a review, me- 
thinks, should produce conviction on the reflecting 
mind, of the necessity of an interference of omnipotence 
to redeem his creatures from such a mass of depra- 
vity and the consequences resulting therefrom. And 
when we see the whole design of the sacred Scrip- 
tures, is to point out to erring man the origin and na- 
ture of his fall, and the means which God hath gra- 
ciously provided through the death of his Son, for the 
pardon and recovery of all who repent and obey the 
Gospel, this opening for all, a fountain for sin and 
uncleaness ; how doth such love call for all our ad- 
miration, gratitude, and acceptance, seeing what the 
Scriptures thus set forth, while the life of the sincere 
Christian bears testimony to its truth, and deists are 
invited to believe and partake of its eternal benefit. 
" Look unto me," says our blessed Saviour, " and be 
ye saved all the ends of the earth." " Him that 
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." Yes, all 
to whom the tidings of his salvation are come, he bids 
by creation, by providence, by redemption, by the 
means of grace, and by the hope of glory, to rise and 
shine in the beauty of holiness, in the purity of truth, 
in the dignity of piety, and in all the charms and 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



137 



graces of diffusive charity, unassembled kindness 
and active humanity. And after exploring all the 
various spheres of life, searching the whole circuit 
of human happiness, and repeating experiments on 
all this vast universe can afford, you will find him 
only entitled to the name and distinction of a real 
Christian, who possesses knowledge and virtue, 
truth and goodness, the best improvement of his best 
faculties, purity of heart, and peace of conscience ; 
all inspiring his whole soul with light and energy 
divine, and leading him on to walk and participate 
in the benign lustre of the great Supreme, and im- 
mortal luminary of earth and heaven, who is " God 
over all, blessed for ever." 6i Here, then, is open- 
ed the infinite and exclusive fountain of all human or 
derivative glory, or excellence. From the memora- 
ble manifestation which the Maker and Father of the 
world hath made of his nature, his perfection, and his 
grace, to us, and to all, in the person and life of his 
Son our Saviour, the man Christ Jesus, results the 
elevation of our kind, its restoration from ignorance 
and vice to wisdom and worth, and from its lost and 
undone state to a state of superior excellence and en- 
joyment. This is the only means by which we are 
capacitated to recover our original lustre, to rise and 
shine in immortal beauty and felicity, to adorn the 
doctrine of God our Saviour on earth, and to enjoy 
his glorious presence in that place where an everlast- 
ing day breaks forth, and the shadows of mortality 
for ever flee away."* 

* Moir. 



138 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



And now, dear reader, that we may not fail of so 
desirable an end ; let us be careful that the means 
we pursue are adequate to its glorious accomplish- 
ment ; Christ is declared to be the way, the truth, and 
the life ; and no man cometh to the Father but by the 
Son; for as the law came by Moses, according to the 
wisdom of God's ordination, so doth grace and truth, 
in the clemency of his love, come by Jesus Christ ; as 
he is the author of the quickening and renewing of 
our nature, so must he likewise be the finisher of our 
faith, by carrying on the work in us ; for, " no man 
knoweth the Father, save the Son, and he to whom- 
soever the Son will reveal him."* 

In accordance with this is the language of the 
Apostle in his epistle to the Ephesians, " and you 
hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and 
sins, wherein in time past ye walked, according to the 
course of this world, according to the prince of the 
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the 
children of disobedience."f 

The same Apostle, in addressing the Corinthians, 
after enumerating those works of unrighteousness, as 
pertaining to their fleshly nature, the workers 
whereof could " not inherit the kingdom of God," 
adds in conclusion, " and such were some of you, 
but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are 
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the 
Spirit of our God."J 

And now, in concluding this chapter, I will suppli- 

* Matt. ii. 27. f E P h - «• h 2 - t 1 Cor - vl 9 > 10, 11. 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



139 



cate in the language of the Apostle, that, " the God 
of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord 
Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the 
blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect 
in every good work to do his will, working in you 
that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus 
Christ ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."'* 



* Heb. xiii. 20. 



140 



CONCLUSION. 



CHAPTER VI. 

CONCLUSION. 



" If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." — 

John xii. 17. 

" For the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life."— 

2 Cor. iii. 6. 

I have already said, that the nominal Christian 
and the deist stand both on the same ground ; that 
both are liable to have their foundation thrown down, 
&c. ; and let us examine what this foundation is. 

First, the nominal Christian. From whence pro- 
ceeds his mere belief or knowledge of Divine things ? 
Is it not from historical evidence, rather than from 
divine conviction ? But let us see how weak the one 
is without the other, and show the difference between 
those two faiths (if I may so express them), histori- 
cal and divine ; and this I cannot do in words more 
suitable than in those of an experienced and en- 
lightened writer (with a very slight alteration which 



CONCLUSION, 



141 



I have taken the liberty to make, in order to render 
the sense more clear). Historical faith is founded 
upon human reason, whereby it assents and believes; 
for instance, that Christ lived in such an age of the 
world ; that he did such miracles, and was the author 
of such doctrines as are recorded of him ; and the 
certainty and evidence of this sort of faith is moral 
only : that is, it depends solely upon the opinion that 
we have of the sincerity and veracity of Christ him- 
self, and of those that were witnesses, who first 
received his doctrines from himself, and afterwards 
handed them down to us from age to age. But di- 
vine faith is that new and living principle and essen- 
tial light communicated to and implanted in the 
spirit of a Christian,* whereby it clearly and dis- 
tinctly sees and feels those divine truths and doc- 
trines which are recorded in Holy Scripture ; " and 
the congruity between them and its own faculties, 
and in consequence whereof it cannot but assent to 

* " Though I have endeavoured to explain these things with 
the utmost clearness and simplicity, I freely confess my fears 
that, to many readers, what I have advanced will be equally un- 
intelligible with a discourse on light and colours to a person born 
blind. Yet did I know such a man, and also a person capable of 
infallibly curing him, I should think it my duty to convince my 
blind acquaintance that there was a desirable something which I 
call light, in order to excite him to apply for such relief. With 
this view I address the spiritually blind. May that gracious Sa- 
viour, who alone is able, work that miracle of mercy for my un- 
enlightened reader.'' — W. T. 



142 



CONCLUSION. 



and cherish them, and endeavour to live up to them, 
and hunger and thirst more and more after them as 
its natural food and nourishment, and as the only 
sure and certain means of promoting its own perfec- 
tion and happiness. The one faith is, in a manner, 
wholly external, the other is altogether inward ; the 
one represents the doctrines of Christ as hard and 
burdensome, as foreign and opposite to flesh and 
blood, or the natural man ; the other represents them 
as pleasant and easy, as natural and congenial to the 
inward man : the one is, as I may say, a dry, barren, 
and ideal knowledge, liable to many uncertainties, 
doubts, and difficulties ; the other imprints a living, 
clear, and satisfactory conviction upon the heart, and 
is always accompanied with divine love towards God 
and charity towards all men, and every other good 
work : the one is like the relation of a traveller ; the 
other is vision and experience itself : the last so far 
transcends the former, that Christ himself, instead 
of appealing to moral evidence, expressly tells us, 
" If any man will do the will of him that sent him, 
he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God 
or whether he spake of himself."* As it is evident 
that the nominal Christian's faith rests on the super- 
ficial ground of an external and historical nature, 
and, as the writer observes, it may be said to be of 
itself a dry, barren, and ideal knowledge, liable to 
many uncertainties, doubts, and difficulties; is it any 

* Vide Faith and Reason Compared. 



CONCLUSION. 



143 



wonder (especially at a time when men of subtle in- 
ventions are sedulously engaged in rendering those 
doubts and difficulties doubly einbarassing, by spe- 
cious reasonings and every artifice they can suggest), 
that the foundation of such should be shaken ? — that 
Christians of this sort should become unstable and 
fall into deism, seeing that they want the key of 
God's unerring spirit to remove and overcome those 
apparent difficulties ? But I must here say, in the 
words of the same author, that " though divine faith 
be infinitely preferable to (that which is merely) his- 
torical, yet I would not be understood as if I under- 
valued the latter, or meanly esteemed the moral cer- 
tainly and evidence that we have for the same : by no 
means; historical faith, and the moral evidence that it 
is grounded upon, is that whereby we have the external 
word handed down to us. It very justly challenges 
our most serious regard and consideration, and he 
that allows it its weight and authority makes a fair 
step towards being a Christian. But it is only divine 
faith that opens and illuminates the heart and the 
mind, and that carries infallible and irresistible evi- 
dence and conviction with it." And, as another au- 
thor, whom I have before quoted, observes, — " If you 
go only outwardly to work, and seek only for an out- 
ward proof of the truth of the Gospel, you must be 
always balancing what is said for and against it : and 
if you come to believe in this way, you will be alarm- 
ed at every new attack, and frightened at every new 
enemy that pretends to lessen the evidence of the 
Gospel." 



144 



CONCLUSION. 



Now, with respect to the deists, I must cut the 
controversy short. They not having sought after the 
blessed privilege of divine revelation or inward com- 
munication of God to the mind, and having rejected 
Scripture evidence, and with it all divine truth, ex- 
cepting that of the belief of one God, (which God, in 
his mercy, has fastened on their minds that they may 
yet have a door of escape), but by relying solely on the 
light of nature and reason, they may be imperceptibly 
led on to a state of atheism. " For what man know- 
eth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man 
which is in him ; even so the things of God knoweth 
no man, but the spirit of God,"* which spirit God is 
willing to communicate when man is truly willing to 
receive. " Behold," saith Christ, " I stand at the 
door and knock. If any man hear my voice, and 
open, I will come unto him,"f &c. 

In proportion as the deists seek God in their own 
wisdom, and by the light of nature and reason only, 
their notions of a God become more and more im- 
perfect till every trace of him becomes confused, ob- 
scured, and, it may be, at length so obliterated that 
many have sought an asylum in atheism. Although 
for a while they may speak highly of the greatness 
and goodness of God, from contemplating and rea- 
soning on his works, yet this alone is not sufficient ; 
although to a right-minded Christian it affords addi- 



* 1 Cor. ii. 11. f Eev. iii. 20. 



CONCLUSION. 



145 



tional confirmation and matter for adoration,* but the 
deist, who sees the evils of nature as well as the good, 
without knowing how to account for them (as the true 
Christian does, by the aid of revelation), draws him- 
self into a labyrinth of contradiction and confusion, by 
far-fetched reasonings upon them, till at last he con- 
cludes in endeavouring to prove from them the non- 
entity of that eternal God, whom, when descanting on 
the works of nature, he had before so highly exalted. 
However contradictory this may appear, I appeal to 
the atheists of the present day to vouch for the truth 
of these remarks, who can tell from their own expe- 
rience, that a state of deism with them was but 
atheism begun. f And I fear the times are not much 
improved. 

Oh ! that men would see the danger in the light 
that I see it, then would they seek the only true God 
in the way in which he is to be found ; they would 
call upon him while he is near. Nor is this a mere 
matter of opinion, for, by extinguishing in themselves 
the sun of righteousness, deeds of darkness spring 
up. "As they like not to retain God in their thoughts, 
they are given up to a reprobate mind to do those 

* u The devout man," says Addison in his Spectator, " does 
not only believe, but feels there is a Deity. He has actual sensa- 
tion of him ; his experience concurs with his reason ; he sees him 
more and more in all his intercourses with him, and, even in this 
life, almost loses his faith in conviction. 5 ' 

f Written originally in 1803, in my 33d year, shortly after the 
French revolution. — W. G. 

H 



146 



CONCLUSION. 



things which are not convenient."* And if this were 
any part of my present design, how could I illustrate 
these remarks by recent dreadful facts ! 

It is said, " Where the tree falleth there it shall 
be ;"t and, as a modern writer has justly observed : 
" the way the tree leans it generally falls, so that 
we have great need to examine ourselves and learn 
the tendency of our dispositions and the bias of 
our minds ; for where death leaves us, judgment will 
assuredly find us ; for there is no work, nor device, 
nor wisdom in the grave." And it is an awful truth 
to such as live without God in the world, that if they 
die in a state of alienation from him, dreadful must 
be the consequence. But let us leave those foolish 
and desperate gamesters, who stake their eternal lives 
for a counter, without even so much as a present ad- 
vantage, and take a view on the other side. 

Our blessed Lord, in a fervent ejaculation to his 
Father, said, " This is life eternal, that they might 
know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, 
whom thou hast sent."t And now, after saying a few 
words on this saving, life-preserving knowledge of 
God, I will proceed to point out a few of those doc- 
trines of the New Testament which, as we livingly 
embrace and abide in them, will prove the ground 
and spring of all true morality and pure virtue. 

Before we can be rightly acquainted with the 
knowledge of true morality and pure virtue, so as to 

* Rom. i. 28. f Eccl. xi. 3. { John xvii. 3. 



CONCLUSION. 



147 



perform them, we must measurably be acquainted 
with the knowledge of the nature of the true God ; 
and there is no other way to become acquainted with 
the life-giving knowledge of the true God but by 
those means which he, in his wisdom, has himself 
thought fit to reveal, which he clearly doth by the 
light and testimony of the sacred records, and by the 
more immediate impressions of his Holy Spirit in 
and upon our souls through Jesus Christ, unto whom 
the Scriptures bear testimony. " For God, who com- 
manded the light to shine out of darkness, hath 
shined in our hearts, to give the light of the know- 
ledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus 
Christ."* But as saith the Apostle, " We have this 
treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the 
power may be of God, and not of us." 

" He hath showed thee, O man ; what is good," t 
&c, says the prophet : and the Apostle also bears 
testimony to this truth, — " Because that which may 
be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath 
showed it unto them."! " God hath revealed them 
unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all 
things, yea, the deep things of God."§ 

By obedience to the manifestations and requirings 
of God's Holy Spirit, we shall receive an increase of 
knowledge and power from him, to enable us more 
and more to perform acceptable worship unto him, 
which will increase our desire of a closer communion 

* 2 Cor. iv. 6, 7. f Micah vi. 8. J Rom. i. 19. 

§ 1 Cor. ii. 10. 

H 2 



148 



CONCLUSION. 



with his Divine nature ; for " he that hungereth and 
thirsteth after righteousness shall be filled." And 
this is that knowledge of God of which the Apostle 
Peter speaks in his exhortation to faith and good 
works, — " Grace and peace be multiplied unto you 
through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 
according as his Divine power hath given unto us all 
things that pertain unto life and godliness, through 
the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory 
and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great 
and precious promises ; that by these ye might be 
partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the 
corruption that is in the world through lust."* " God 
is a spirit." This is a Scripture truth which none but 
pagans and atheists pretend to deny : and if this be 
an admitted truth, is there any inconsistency in the 
belief, that he who is a spirit, and is unbounded in 
power, can, and does, communicate an immediate and 
saving knowledge of himself to his creature man, see- 
ing that he is not far from every one of us, for a in 
him we live, and move, and have our being ?" And in 
proportion as we are faithful to the light and walk ac- 
cording to its discoveries, he enlarges our vision and 
expands our spiritual faculties, that we may receive 
and comprehend more and more of his power and 
nature, and taste and feel his Divine Spirit within 

US. f 4 

* 2 Peter i. 2—4. 
f Read the parable of the talents. — Matt. xxv\ 14 — 30. 
% Read the parable of the prodigal son. — Luke xv. 11 — 32. 



CONCLUSION. 



149 



The apostle John says, " God is love." How ex- 
pressive is this short sentence. And this Apostle ap- 
pears to have been so eminently experienced in the 
richness of God's love, that he seems to have at- 
tained that state of perfect love which casts out fear, 
which is the Christian's highest attainment- — a confi- 
dence which Christians should not assume too soon 
lest they should be drawn off their watch : for al- 
though some of us may have advanced some steps 
on this heaven-ascending ladder, yet, as in natural, 
so in spiritual things, the nearer the earth the greater 
the power of gravitation. And though we may have 
escaped the actual grasp of the enemy, and have 
got, in some degree, out of his reach, yet his allure- 
ments and stratagems are numerous and powerful, 
so that we have need to bear in mind the advice of 
one formerly, " Let him that thinketh he standeth take 
heed lest he fall and also that other universal ad- 
vice, " What I say unto you I say unto all, watch !" 
Though I have no doubt but there are many who, 
through the grace of God and obedience to the word 
of truth, have attained such a state of stability that 
they can look down with indifference on the world 
and its perishable enjoyments, without being made" 
giddy by its allurements or affected by its scorn ; 
these are the pillars in the temple of their God that 
shall no more go out, these could tell of the mysteries 
of God's nature, power, and love from their own ex- 
perience; such are not assuming, but lowly, diffi- 
dent, humble, knowing " that they are not their own, 



150 



CONCLUSION. 



but are bought with a price. But it is not to that 
knowledge derived from the experience of others I 
wish to call you, but that you, with myself, may come 
more and more to the knowledge of the true God in 
and for ourselves — that we may come more to witness 
his quickening power animating our souls and raising 
up heavenly desires therein. For both Scripture and 
experience prove that God is the eternal actuating 
spirit that generates pure love : his precepts and doc- 
trines are nothing else but the dictates of love : and 
the Christian religion consists in being born again of 
the incorruptible seed and word of God : and this is 
the only true faith which works by love, but which is 
rejected by those who are born after the flesh, who 
are the children of wrath. 

Now, in proof, I will proceed to point out a few of 
those doctrines and precepts of Christ and his imme- 
diate followers, contained in the Scriptures of truth, 
which show by the very nature of them the absolute 
necessity of this spiritual regeneration or new birth 
in Christ, and that it is impossible for man, in his 
natural and unregenerate state, to live up to such 
purity and perfection. 

I will begin with those two great commandments 
set forth by Christ himself. " The first of all the 
commandments," saith he, " is, hear, O Israel, the 
Lord our God is one Lord ; and thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy 
soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength ; 
this is the first commandment, and the second is like 



CONCLUSION. 



151 



unto it, namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbour as 
thyself. There is no other commandment greater 
than these."* That this love to our neighbour should 
not be conceived in a contracted sense, he gives forth 
that parable of the good Samaritan, one of a people 
that was abhorred by the Jews. " A certain man went 
down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among 
thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and 
wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead : 
and, by chance, there came down a certain priest that 
way ; and when he saw him he passed by on the other 
side : and likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, 
came and looked on him, and passed by on the other 
side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came 
where he v/as ; and when he saw him he had com- 
passion on him, and went to him and bound up 
his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him 
on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took 
care of him ; and on the morrow, when he departed, 
he took out two pence and gave them to the host, 
and said unto him, 6 take care of him, and whatsoever 
thou spendest more, when I come again I will repay 
thee.' Which, now, of these three, thinkest thou, 
(said Jesus to the lawyer), was neighbour unto him 
that fell among the thieves ? And he said, he that 
showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, 
go, and do thou likewise. "t 

Now, if this parable be admired, how must we ad- 



* Mark xii. 29—31. 



f Luke x. 30—37. 



152 



CONCLUSION. 



mire that Christian principle upon which it is founded, 
that of loving our enemies. "But I say unto you 
which hear," saith Christ, " love your enemies, do 
good to them that hate you, bless them that curse 
you, and pray for them which despitefully use you."* 
This, saith the deist (aye, and so say many who pro- 
fess the name of Christ), is unnatural ; and truly it is 
so to the unsubdued and unregenerated mind of man; 
but Christ further enforces it by saying, " For if ye 
love them which love you, what thank have ye ? for 
sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do 
good to them which do good to you, what thank have 
ye ? for sinners also do even the same,"f &c. And, 
therefore, he gives us this reason, namely, " That ye 
may be the children of your father which is in heaven, 
for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the 
good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the un- 
just. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father 
which is in heaven is perfect."^ And the Apostle 
Paul further says, " Bless them which persecute you ; 
bless, and curse not. Recompense to no man evil 
for evil. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but 
rather give place unto wrath ; for it is written, ven- 
geance is mine, I will repay > saith the Lord. There- 
fore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, 
give him drink. Be not overcome of evil, but over- 
come evil with good."§ || But this doctrine of loving 
our enemies and forgiving injuries is the hardest of all 

* Luke vi. 27, 28 f Luke v. 32, 33. + Matt. v. 45—48. 
§ Kom. xii. 14—21. || Appendix (U). 



CONCLUSION. 



153 



doctrines for the natural man to practise ; so that no 
wonder it is so much rejected among men. Even 
Peter, the disciple of our Lord, appears as though he 
wished to limit the doctrine of forgiveness by saying, 
"Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I 
forgive him ? till seven times ? Jesus said unto him, 
I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy 
times seven."* And then he puts forth a most excel- 
lent parable on the occasion. t 

Peter was, by nature, of an ardent and impetuous 
temper, so much so, that his Divine master had fre- 
quently to rebuke his zeal and correct his presump- 
tuous conduct, — in the instance of his personal vio- 
lence in cutting off the ear of the High Priest's servant, 
and in other matters which called for the humbling 
check of Divine wisdom. On one occasion the Sa- 
viour said unto him, " Simon, Simon, Satan hath de- 
sired to have you, that he might sift you as wheat, 
but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not ; and 
when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren. 7 " 
Our Lord, who knew what was in man, needed not to 
be informed whence these frequent errors proceeded, 
and not only thus interceded for his disciple, but gra- 
ciously applied the remedy: for, after the death and 
resurrec tion of Christ and the gift of the Holy Ghost, 
we behold him an altered man, endued indeed with 
holy boldness, yet clothed with Christian love, and 
eminently qualified to strengthen his brethren : so that 



* Matt, xviii. 21, 22. 



f Ibid, 22 to the end. 
h3 



154 



CONCLUSION. 



we need not wonder at the following beautiful advice 
which this Apostle gave, on exhorting his fellow-dis- 
ciples to unity and love, in these words : — " Finally, 
be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of ano- 
ther : love as brethren ; be pitiful, be courteous ; not 
rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but con- 
trariwise, blessing : for he that will love life and see 
good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his 
lips that they speak no guile — let him eschew evil and 
do good — let him seek peace and ensue it."* 

These doctrines are so consistent with the Divine 
purity and wisdom, that the perfect peace and har- 
mony of mankind depend upon them, and the foolish 
policy of the world, which acts on the contrary prin- 
ciple, is manifested by the discord and misery which 
it produces. Let the deist w T ell consider this ; and if 
we are really friends to peace, let us individually seek 
after that Spirit which will fulfil those doctrines in 
ourselves which lead to peace. This Spirit will not 
only produce peace outwardly, but a " peace of mind 
which passeth all understanding for this doctrine of 
love comprehends and embraces every other virtue. 
But it is to be obtained in no other way than by suf- 
fering our first nature to be subdued and becoming 
new creatures in Christ Jesus. " I am the vine," saith 
Christ, "ye are the branches : he that abideth in me 
and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit ; for 
without tne ye can do nothing. Herein (saith he) is 



* 1 Peter iii. 8—11. 



CONCLUSION. 



155 



my father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall 
ye be my disciples. As the father hath loved me so 
have I loved you : continue ye in my love. If ye keep 
my commandments ye shall abide in my love, even as 
I have kept my father's commandments and abide in 
his love. These things have I spoken unto you that 
my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might 
be full. This is my commandment, that ye love one 
another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no 
man than this, that a man lay down his life for his 
friends — ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I com- 
mand you. These things I command you, that ye love 
one another."* 

All these plain declarations of Christ proceed from 
the spirit of pure love, and prove their Divine origi- 
nal. And in tracing over the sacred pages of the Old 
and New Testaments, I find such injunctions and per- 
suasions to righteousness and holiness, such exhorta- 
tions to love, such tender admonition and counsel to 
sobriety and purity of life and conversation, that I 
think it unnecessary to quote more of what is so con- 
spicuous therein. Then let me intreat you, dear 
readers, (whether deists, or traditional Christians, or 
to whatever class you may belong), to seek after a 
right mind and disposition, qualifying you for a re- 
perusal of those sacred writings, not with a vain, 
criticising research,' but with a humble desire after 
your soul's good : and may the advice which the 



* John xv. 5—17. 



156 



CONCLUSION. 



Apostle gave the Philippians be regarded by you, — 
" Brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever 
things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatso- 
ever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, 
whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any 
virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these 
things." And may the God of love so open and illu- 
minate your understandings, that you may compre- 
hend spiritual things as spiritual ; and may your minds 
be so purified and humbled that you may receive in 
love the portion of Divine knowledge which God may 
think fit to communicate ; and that you may seek a 
further enlargement through the paths of obedience, 
is the fervent desire of one who wishes present as well 
as eternal peace to all mankind. 



APPENDIX. 



157 



APPENDIX. 



INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 

A writer to whom I am indebted for several ar- 
ticles in this Appendix, says, " I make no apology 
to my reader for the length of my quotations (from 
other authors), because, I am sure, he will be a gainer, 
if I keep silence that they may be heard in the inter- 
val." — I therefore, withdraw myself occasionally, that 
I may introduce those advocates. If 1 can but be 
instrumental in reviving the true spirit of Christi- 
anity, by citing their authority, their' s be the praise, 
and mine the humble office of recommending and ex- 
tending their salutary doctrine. * * * * 
" If it shall be asked why in this volume I so often 
choose the drudgery of a transcriber, the reason is 
shortly this. I hope, that quotations from departed 
writers of great and deserved fame, would find a more 
general and unprejudiced acceptance with all sorts of 
men than anything that could be written by any one 



158 



APPENDIX. 



now living, who, if esteemed by some, is in danger of 
being despised by more wdiose prejudice to a person 
will not suffer them to reap any benefit by anything, 
however useful, that can come from him; while such 
passages as these, wdiich I quote, must excite respect 
and attention, unmixed, with malignant sentiment or 
prepossession against their persons, such as may 
close the eyes of the understanding against the radi- 
ance of truth." These sentiments, so well expressed, 
and so congenial with my own feelings and views, I 
beg the reader to accept as my apology also on the 
present occasion. 

The extracts which have been copied into this work 
are from authors differing more or less in their creeds 
of faith and formularies of worship from each other ; 
whilst I, as a member of the religious Society of 
Friends, differ from them. 

This view of the subject is attended with a gratify- 
ing feeling, that so many rightly engaged minds, un- 
der different names, are so cordially united on sub- 
jects of religion, in the " one thing needful notwith- 
standing they may be opposed to each other on points 
which may be termed merely speculative in practice. 

On these grounds I feel myself less desirous to in- 
terfere by way of controversy, except in some matters 
which, although apparently small, involve principles 
of high moment; believing as I do, that God has 
not left himself without a witness to his truth through 
the operation of the vital principle of godliness in 
the hearts of all men, individually, seeing that as 



APPENDIX. 



159 



well as through the living testimony of many raised 
up as lights in dark places ; my desire is that we may 
all aim at consistency in all things; seek to know the 
will of God concerning us ; ask his help, that we may 
be conformable thereto; and be faithful in those things 
which have been made manifest to us : and account 
nothing small to be said or done which he may re- 
quire at our hands. 

The Apostle's advice isalike important to every one, 
" prove all things ; hold fast that which is good." 

We should be careful to entertain Christian love 
one towards another, and bear with each other in those 
things which may be termed indifferent or of minor 
import : but, at the same time, we should assure our- 
selves that they are so, that we may not be latitudi- 
narian, or indifferent, either in allowing to ourselves 
or to others schemes or theories of religion too lax or 
too stringent, and which are not warranted by holy 
writ.' " Happy is he that condemneth not himself in 
that thing which he alloweth."* 

Let us be careful to avoid that position in which, 
or by which, we may counteract those greater and more 
important principles, which we may be assured are 
essentially necessary to the true Christian character. 

The Apostle Paul remarks, that, " other foundation 
can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus 
Christ. Now, if any man build upon this founda- 
tion, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 

* Rom. xiv. 22. 



160 



APPENDIX. 



every man's work shall be made manifest ; for the 
day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by 
fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what 
sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath 
built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any 
man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss : but 
he himself shall be saved ; yet so as by fire."* " What 
is the chaff to the wheat saith the Lord."f The Lord 
does communicate a true spirit of discernment to 
those who are looking to him for wisdom to direct. 

The Saviour, in reproving the Pharisees, said to 
them, " Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypo- 
crites, as it is written, this people honoureth me with 
their lips, but their heart is far from me ; howbeit, in 
vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrine the 
commandments of men." And is it not to be feared 
that the creed and ceremonial worship of many in 
the present day are somewhat like the " laying aside 
the commandments of God " (and holding the tra- 
dition of men, comparable to) " the washing of pots 
and cups, and many other such like things,"! as 
above alluded to ; or, as the Apostle describes, build- 
ing with wood, hay, and stubble (light and perish- 
able materials of their own providing) upon the true 
foundation, which is Jesus Christ, the Rock of ages ; 
who liveth and abideth for ever ? 

It has been said (under the law), " thou shalt not 

* 1 Cor. iii. II, 12. f Jer. xxiii. 28. 

t Mark vii. 7, 8. 



APPENDIX. 



161 



sow thy vineyard with divers seeds;* lest the fruit 
of the seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of 
thy vineyard, be defiled :" " thou shalt not plough 
with an ox and an ass together :"f " thou shalt not 
wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen 
together." These injunctions of the law are also of 
Spiritual signification, not only for those to whom the 
law was given, but to us also, who are under the Gos- 
pel dispensation. 

The religion of Jesus Christ brings into simplicity 
and singleness of purpose, it brings out of all those in- 
congruous and discordant mixtures which divert and 
bewilder the mind, and it draws with a sweet influ- 
ence into the one thing needful — even into the unity 
of that spirit which is the bond of peace. It is the 
leavening principle which alone changes the heart of 
man : we can substitute nothing for it; we can only 
invite its acceptance. Man has always been diverted 
from practical Christianity, and that true and living 
faith which overcomes the world, whenever he has at- 
tempted to set up anything in lieu of it, either in 
minute forms of devotion, external mortification, fasts, 
feasts, penances, or any one or many of the outward 
ways of will-worship, invented by the fanciful or su- 
perstitious vagaries of the human mind ; it is in these 
things the great enemy sets his gins and snares to en- 
tangle the feet of mankind. 

And these remarks apply equally to all, however 



* Deut. xxii. 9. 



t Ibid ver. 10, — see ver. 1 1 . 



162 



APPENDIX. 



designated as to sect or party, under the Christian 
name, who may lay undue stress on those outward ob- 
servances, many of which were enjoined under the 
former dispensation, but now are done away in Christ. 
Under his spiritual and inward dispensation, nothing 
avails but faith, which works by love to the purifying 
of the heart. 

I will conclude this chapter with some extracts 
from two writers, who appear to have experienced the 
truths which they have so well expressed, on the in- 
ternal evidence and the sufficiency of the Holy Spirit, 
as it regards the sanctification and regeneration of 
man. 

The first which I shall present to view is from Dr. 
T own son,— 

" ON INTERNAL EVIDENCE, 

, . . " The person who enters on the study of 
science, of w r hich he has only a general idea, must re- 
ceive many things at first on the authority of his in- 
structors. And surely there is no one who has such 
claim to trust and confidence in his words as the au- 
thor and finisher of our faith. 

" The healing efficacy and blessed influence of the 
Gospel will sufficiently vouch for its truth and excel- 
lence. The evidence which thus possesses the soul 
is not liable to be impaired by time, as might an im- 
pression once made on the senses ; but will shine more 
and more unto a perfect day. 

" For the practice of religion, by purifying the heart, 
will raise and improve the understanding to conceive 



APPENDIX. 



163 



more clearly and judge more rightly of heavenly things 
and Divine truths ; the view and contemplation of 
which will return upon the heart the warmth of livelier 
hopes and more vigorous incitements to obedience ; 
and effectual obedience will feel and testify that it is 
the finger of God. 

" For is nature able, by its own efficiency, to clear 
the eyes of the mind ? to rectify the will ? to regulate 
the affections ? to raise the soul to its noblest object, 
in love and adoration of God ? to employ it steadily 
in its best and happiest exercise, justice and charity 
to man ? to detach its desires from the pleasures, pro- 
fits, and honours of the world ? to exalt its views to 
heavenly things ? to render the whole life godly, just, 
and sober? He who impartially examines his own 
moral abilities by the pure and searching light of the 
Gospel, must discern their defects and weakness in 
every part : and when he well considers the tenor and 
spirit of this Gospel, must acknowledge that he is not 
of himself sufficient for the attainments to which it 
calls and conducts its faithful votary. 

" What then is it that hath taken him by the hand 
and leads him on in this rising path of virtue and ho- 
liness ? that prevents his steps from sliding ; or, if his 
foot hath slipped, raises him again ? that keeps him 
steady in the right way ; or, if at any time he hath 
wandered out of it, recalls him to it ? that strengthens 
him to resist temptations, to endure toils, and so con- 
tinue patiently in well-doing? that, as he advances, 
opens to his faith a still brightening view of the hea- 



164 



APPENDIX. 



venly Jerusalem through the gloom which our earthly 
state hangs upon death and futurity, and animates him 
to live and walk by this faith ? 

" If these are exertions beyond the sphere of mere 
human activity, the question, whence such improve- 
ment of soul, and spirit, and life proceeds, will admit 
of an easy and clear answer. It is God who blesses 
our earnest petitions that we may do his will, and our 
sincere endeavours to do it with the grace of his 
Holy Spirit ; who worketh in us both to will and to 
do of his good pleasure, and thus verifies and fulfils 
the promises made by Christ, to those who ask in his 
name, of succour and strength from on high. Christ, 
therefore, is his beloved Son, by whom we are re- 
deemed and in whom we are accepted. The religion 
which he hath taught us, so worthy of God in the 
theory and so favoured by him in the practice of its 
laws, proves its heavenly origin by the fruit it pro- 
duces, and brings its divinity home to the breast of 
the devout professor by experience of its power unto 
salvation. 

" It is natural to conclude, that he who has this 
conviction of its certainty will be desirous of persuad- 
ing others to the belief and practice of it, and will be 
of an apt disposition to instruct them in it." 

The other remarks are from Bishop Sanderson : — 

" It is God (says he) that both ministereth seed to 
the sower and multiplieth the seed sown ; the princi- 
pal and the increase are both his." 

" It is clear that all Christian virtues and graces, 



APPENDIX. 



165 



though wrought immediately by us and with the free 
consent of our wills, are yet the fruit of God's Spirit 
working in us ; that is to say, they do not proceed ori- 
ginally from any strength of nature or any inherent 
power in man's free will ; nor are they acquired by the 
culture of philosophy, the advantages of education, or 
any improvement whatsoever of natural abilities by 
the helps of art or industry ; but are, in truth, the pro- 
per effects of that supernatural grace which is given 
unto us by the good pleasure of the Father, merited 
for us by the precious blood of the Son, and conveyed 
into our hearts by the sweet and secret inspiration of 
the Holy Ghost. Love, joy, and peace are fruits, not 
at all of the flesh, but merely of the spirit." 

Again, the same writer, in another paragraph, goes 
on to say, " Without grace, it were impossible for us 
to amend our lives, or to bring forth such, fruits (ac- 
cording) as God requireth in his Holy Word." And 
the reason is clear, because as the tree is, such must 
the fruit be. 

Do men look to gather grapes of thorns, or figs of 
thistles ? or, can they expect from a salt fountain other 
than brackish water ? Certainly, what is born of the 
flesh can be no better than flesh. Who can bring a 
clean thing out of that which is unclean ? or, how can 
anything which is good proceed from a heart, all the 
imaginations of the thoughts whereof are only and 
continually evil ? 

The writers above quoted were of the national 
church, but not selected on that ground. Writers of 



166 



APPENDIX. 



other religious denominations will be introduced in 
the following Appendix, who, although dissentients 
from the above in the formularies of devotion and on 
some other points, yet harmonize, in great measure, 
in the simple and pure language of the Spirit, which, 
wherever it prevails, promotes that cementing unity 
of brotherly love and peace which so conspicuously 
manifests itself in all who are truly seeking peace in 
God and fellowship in our Lord Jesus Christ. 



APPENDIX. 



167 



(A)— Page 4. 



How accordant are the words of Jeremy Taylor 
where he says, " If the Spirit of God be our teacher, 
we shall learn to avoid evil and to do good ; to be wise 
and to be holy ; to be profitable and careful ; and they 
that walk in this way shall find more peace in their 
consciences, more skill in the Scriptures, more satis- 
faction in their doubts than can be attained by all 
the polemical and impertinent disputations in the 
world. 

" The man that is wise, he that is conducted by the 
Spirit of God, knows better in what Christ's king- 
dom doth consist, than to throw away his time and 
interest, his peace and safety — for what ? — for reli- 
gion ? — no : for the body of religion — not so much 
for the garments of the body of religion ? — no, not 
for so much, but for the fringes of the garment of the 
body of religion ; for such, and not better, are many 
religious disputes — things in which the soul and spirit 
are not at all concerned. 

" The knowledge which comes from godliness is 
something more certain and divine than all demon- 
stration and human learning. 



168 



APPENDIX. 



" It is not by reading a multitude of books, but by 
studying the truth of God : it is not by laborious com- 
mentaries of the doctors that you can finish your work, 
but the exposition of the Spirit of God: it is not by 
the rules of metaphysics, but by the proportions of 
holiness : and, when all books are read, and all argu- 
ments examined, and all authorities alleged, nothing 
can be found to be true that is unholy. 

" The learning of the fathers (says he), was more 
owing to their piety than their skill — more to God 
than themselves. These were the men that prevailed 
against errors because they lived according to truth. 

" If ye walk in the light and live in the spirit, your 
doctrines will be true, and that truth will prevail." — 
Via Intelligentia^from the Sacred Classics. — London. 



(B) — Page 26. 



Ezekiel Hopkins, Bishop of Londonderry. (He died 1690). 

He wrote as follows : — " There are in the Scrip- 
tures sublime truths, w T hich the most aspiring reason 
of man cannot overtop : and there are more plain and 
easy truths, in which the weakest capacity may con- 
verse with delight and satisfaction." ..." Bless 
God that he hath so clearly revealed the necessity and 
practical duties of a Christian life, that these are in- 



APPENDIX. 



169 



volved in no mystical or obscure intimations ; but, 
that thou mayest, without dispute, know what is of ab- 
solute necessity to be believed or practised, in order to 
salvation. Be assured of this, that what, with all thy 
labour and diligence, thou canst not understand, thou 
needest not ; and that what is needful is plain and ob- 
vious, and thou mayest easily understand. 

" The Scripture is obscure, but hath not God offered 
sufficient help for the unfolding of it ? Have you not 
the promise of his Spirit to illuminate you ?" 



(C)— Page 27. 

John Todd, Pastor of the first Congregational Church, Phila- 
delphia, says thus on the study of the Scripture :— 

" The rules which many give for the study of the 
Bible seem to me too frequently to overlook one grand 
characteristic of the [written]* word of God,t viz., 

* I have taken the freedom to add the word [written], within 
brackets, before the expression of the " word of God," for consist- 
ency sake, a model may hereafter pursue. — Ed. 

t The appellation " Word of God," as applied to the Bible, ap- 
pears objectionable, because it is calculated to lead to a confound- 
ing of the record with him of whom it testifies,— Christ being " The 
Word." See John i. And in Rev. xix. 13, it is declared of the 
glorified Redeemer, that " His name is called The Word of God." 
— See Brief Outlines by Susatma Corcler. 

I 



170 



APPENDIX, 



that as it required supernatural aid to write it, so it 
does also to understand it ; the spirit which dictated 
it is necessary to understand it : and the Bible cannot 
be understood and its spirit apprehended, except by 
the mind which is led and sanctified by the Spirit of 
God. You must have the aid of this Spirit or you 
open the [written] word of God in vain. The letter 
killeth, the Spirit only maketh alive. In all your at- 
tempts, then, to understand the Bible, be sure to in- 
voke the aid of Heaven. Ask that in God's light you 
may see light." 



(D) — Page 38, Line 14> 

From Samuel Shaw's ' Immanuel ; or a Discovery of True Re- 
ligion, as it imports a Living Principle in the Minds of Men/ 
(He died 1691, in his 59th year). 

" God, of his infinite free grace and overflowing 
goodness, provided a Mediator, in and by whom apos- 
tate souls might be reconciled and re-united to him- 
self: and 'to as many as receive him, to them he giveth 
power to become the sons of God.' " . . . " God 
is the author of religioji from within. He doth not 
only reveal himself and his Son to the soul, but in it : 
he doth not only make discoveries to it, but lively im- 
pressions upon it : he doth not only appoint and point 
out the way of life, but breathes in it the breath of 
life." 



APPENDIX. 



171 



(F) — Page 48, Line 3. 

Philip Doddridge, D.D., Minister at Northampton. (Born 
1702, died at Lisbon, 1751). 

" Consider the design and tendency of the New 
Testament. See to what it will lead you, and all those 
who cordially obey it, and then say whether it be not 
good : and consider how naturally its truth is con- 
nected with its goodness. Trace the character and 
sentiments of its authors, whose living image (if I may 
be allowed the expression) is still preserved in their 
writings, and then ask your own heart, can you think 
this was a forgery — an impious, cruel forgery ? — for 
such it must have been if it were a forgery at all — a 
scheme to mock God and to ruin men, even the best 
of men, such as reverenced conscience and would 
abide all extremities for what they apprehend to be 
truth. Put the question to your own heart, can I, in 
my conscience, believe it to be such an imposture ? 
Can I look up to an omniscient God and say, ' O 
Lord, thou knowest that it is in reverence to thee and 
in love to truth and virtue that I reject this book and 
the method to happiness here laid down ?' 

" But there are difficulties in the way : and what 

i -2 



172 



APPENDIX. 



then ? Have those difficulties never been cleared ? 
Go to the living advocates for Christianity, to those of 
whose abilities, candour, and piety you have the best 
opinion — if your prejudices will give you leave to have 
a good opinion of any such — tell them your difficulties; 
hear their solutions ; weigh them seriously as those 
who know they must answer it to God : and, while 
doubts continue, follow the truth as far as it will lead 
you ; and take heed that you do not 6 imprison it in 
unrighteousness.'* Nothing appears more inconsist- 
ent and absurd than for a man solemnly to pretend 
dissatisfaction with the evidences of the Gospel as a 
reason why he cannot, in conscience, be a thorough 
Christian, when yet at the same time he violates the 
most apparent dictates of reason and conscience,t and 
lives in vices condemned even by heathens." 



WHAT IS CONSCIENCE? 

" Conscience is that faculty of our minds by which 
we are able to know whether we neglect our duties or 
discharge them." — Saurin. 

* Kom. i. 18. 

f The word conscience Las been repeated several times in the 
above discourse with much propriety ; the following will tend to 
illustrate and also elucidate the principle of that term to the un- 
derstanding of some readers who may imperfectly comprehend it, 
although so frequently appealed to. — Ed. 



APPENDIX. 



173 



James Beattie, L.L.D., speaking on the ' Imperative duty of 
Conscience,' says thus, — 

" The generality of mankind, however ignorant of 
the received distinctions and explications of their in- 
ternal powers, do yet, by their conduct, declare that 
they feel their influence and acknowledge their au- 
thenticity. Every instance of their being governed 
by a principle of moral obligation is a proof of this. 

" They believe an action to be lawful in the sight of 
God, when they are conscious of a sentiment of law- 
fulness attending the performance of it. They believe 
a certain mode of conduct to be incumbent on them 
in certain circumstances, because a notion of duty 
arises in the mind when they contemplate that con- 
duct in relation to those circumstances. I ought to 
be grateful for a favour received. Why ? — Because 
my conscience tells me so. How do you know that 
you ought to do that of which your conscience en- 
joins the performance ? — I can give no further reason 
for it ; but I feel that such is my duty. Here the in- 
vestigation must stop; or, if carried a little further, it 
must return to this point : — I know that I ought to do 
what my conscience enjoins because God is the author 
of my constitution : and I obey his will when I act 
according to the principles of my constitution. Why 
do you obey the will of God ? — Because it is my 
duty. How know you that ? — Because my con- 
science tells me so." 



174 



APPENDIX. 



(G) — Page 48, Line 7. 

From Thomas Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man. (Born at 
Burton, in Cheshire, 1663, died 1755.) 

" How should they, whose hearts are set upon the 
riches, pleasures, honours, and all the idols of this 
world, love a Gospel which condemns all these, and 
recommends mortification, self-denial, &c." 



(H) — Page 50, Line 16. 

From the same Author. 
ON THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 

" He that reads them with a purpose to profit 
by them, will find them clear, and his duty deter- 
mined. 

" Read them with humility, not to appear more 
knowing, but to edify. . . . 

" They that preach the Gospel so as to accommo- 
date it to the maxims of the world, the interests of 
this life, and the inclination of nature, have forgot that 



APPENDIX. 



175 



Christ's 6 kingdom is not of this world,' nor designed 
to promote its grandeur. . 

" The reading of Scripture, when serious, is ever 
attended with a blessing ; for instance, the Ethiopian 
eunuch. 

u (The) Holy Scriptures (are) obscure, that we may 
apply ourselves to study them, and that we may have 
recourse to the Holy Spirit, by which they were writ- 
ten, for the understanding of them. . . . 

" A Christian life is the great key of the Gospel. 
A man may know all the learned criticisms of the 
Scriptures without knowing the spirit, the piety, and 
the mysteries thereof. . . . The Holy Scriptures 
are an adorable mixture of clearness and obscurity, 
which enlighten and humble the children of God and 
blind and harden those of the world. The light pro- 
ceeds from God and blindness from the creature." — 
Maxims of Piety and Christianity. 

OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT. 

" The Patriarchs knew, as well as we, that faith and 
repentance was the only way to please God : they 
had faith in the promise of the Messiah ; they con- 
fessed their sins, &c. ; and in their prayers there was 
nothing concealed but the name of Christ, which they 
expressed by the tender mercies, the loving-kindness 
of the Lord, &c. In short, both churches had the 
same Mediator, the same spirit, as well as the same 



176 



APPENDIX. 



God : and as far as they embraced the great promise, 
so far they embraced Christ. 

" Thus Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ 
greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he had 
respect unto the recompense of the reward. 

" This is of great moment to be understood in order 
to understand the Bible." — Idem. 

WHY ARE THE SCRIPTURES SOMETIMES DARK? 

" Why ; to put us in mind that the knowledge of 
God and the mysteries of Christianity are favours 
which are to be asked of God, if ever we hope to un- 
derstand them." — Idem. 

TRUTHS OF THE GOSPEL. 

" Few people deny them ! Most live as if they were 
not true. The Gospel affords us infallible rules of 
life; and, provided we apply them right, we cannot 
be wrong in judgment."* — Ibid. 

* " The Gospel is a dispensation of life and power, revealing 
the substance of those truths which were shadowed forth by the 
law in types and figures. . . . The Gospel plainly refers us, 
for instruction in righteousness and guidance into all truth, to 
the Spirit of truth alone." — G. D. 



APPENDIX. 



177 



(I) — Page 52. 

Extract from Richard Hodgson, M.A., Fourth Master of 
King's College School, and Assistant Master of South Lambeth 
Chapel. 

" The writers in defence of Christianity have gene- 
nerally grounded their arguments upon what are 
termed its external and internal evidences. By the 
latter is understood that testimony to its Divine ori- 
ginal, derivable from its own intrinsic excellence ; a 
proof which a deeper insight into its revealed myste- 
ries strengthens and confirms, so that, to an esta- 
blished Christian, the internal proof comes home with 
a demonstration more powerful and convincing than 
that which any external evidence can produce. The 
sublimity of its doctrines, the purity of its morals, the 
preciousness of its promises, the justness of its denun- 
ciations, and its evident tendency to glorify God and 
promote the happiness of man, the light which it 
throws upon a future state, and upon the way which 
leads to life eternal establish irresistibly the proof that 
it came forth from God, and is that word which i holy 
men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy 
Ghost.' But this evidence will naturally be resisted 
by those who are prejudiced against the truths of re- 

I 3 



178 



APPENDIX. 



relation, and who, therefore, demand other evidences 
before they will bow to an allegiance so entire as that 
which the sacred record demands, with nothing short 
of which God will be satisfied. c We will have,' say 
they, c more clear and positive proofs that it is of such 
high origin, before we admit the credibility of a sys- 
tem which demands every thought to be brought into 
captivity to the obedience of its Divine author.' 

" To such we submit the evidences deducible from 
miracle and prophecy, which are termed the exter- 
nal evidences. 

" By that of miracle we mean, briefly, the proof that 
Jesus is the Christ, gathered from the mighty works 
which he did, and to which he directed the attention 
of his unbelieving countrymen in proof of his Divine 
mission. . . . Correctly speaking, indeed, mira- 
cles were not of themselves sufficient to prove his 
Messiahship, but required to be viewed in connexion 
with prophecy, which foretold that the Messiah should 
do that which Jesus did. Hence the evidence from 
miracle is mixed up with that of prophecy, which cer- 
tainly is the great foundation whereon the truth of the 
Gospel rests." &c* 



* See Acts xvii. 2, 3. 



APPENDIX. 



179 



(K) — Page 55. 

The following is an extract from a work entitled 4 The Young 
Christian,' by Jacob Abbott, a popular writer of the present age. 

" The Bible (says he) is a history of the redemption 
of man by Jesus Christ. . . . Open at Genesis, 
and follow on chapter after chapter and book after 
book until you come to the final benediction in the 
last chapter of the Revelations, it all bears upon 
this. 

" Now, if this book was planned by the Supreme, 
and if he superintended its execution during the fif- 
teen centuries while it was in progress, all this is easily 
accounted for ; nothing else can account for it. . . . 

" It is observable, that in one of the very first chap- 
ters of the Bible the coming of the Saviour is foretold ; 
and from that time the sacred history marks out and 
follows with minute accuracy the line of succession 
which is to conduct us to that Saviour. 

" There were a vast many nations on the earth at 
the time when the Israelites were in Egypt, whose his- 
tory is far more important in every respect, but one, 
than is the history of the Jews. 

" There were the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and the 
Persians. The sacred history neglects them all, and 



180 



APPENDIX. 



turns its whole attention to a body of Egyptian slaves, 
and why ? — because among these slaves there was the 
ancestor of the coming Messiah." 



(L) — Page 57. 



The following opinions of William Burgh, A.B., Chaplain to 
the Dublin Penitentiary, being a few quotations only from a dis- 
course delivered (1836) by him against the principles of Unitari- 
anism, and directed to an argument against the doctrine of the 
divinity of Christ and the atonement by him, grounded upon the 
erroneous views of those professors who represent God as a being 
whose wrath could not be appeased or satisfied without the sacri- 
fice of his only begotten son Jesus Christ, as a propitiation and 
atonement for the sins of mankind. After quoting some of their 
objections, he proceeds thus : — 

" I said, the doctrine of reconciliation was a princi- 
pal objection of the Unitarians ; but I should have 
said, the doctrine of reconciliation, as stated by them- 
selves. And, indeed, it must be acknowledged that 
many who believe in the divinity and atonement of 
the Saviour have given much ground for the objec- 
tion. But, while this is deeply to be regretted, it only 
shows the importance of recurring, in every case, to 
the Scriptures themselves where Scripture truth is in 
question, instead of taking it at second hand, as cor- 
rupted by the systems of men. Were this done, it 



APPENDIX. 



181 



would often be found that arguments which, as in the 
present instance, appear most powerful — yea, are 
quite conclusive against a doctrine as generally re- 
ceived and taught — are utterly irrelevant as it respects 
the Scriptural statement of it, and do not in the least 
affect it. I say, as in the present instance, for, the 
truth is, the Scriptural statement of the doctrine of 
reconciliation, or of atonement and sacrifice, at once 
renders the whole of this objection void, which is, not 
that God was reconciled to the world by Jesus 
Christ, but, as the text declares, 6 God was, in Christ, 
reconciling the world to himself.' Note the difference 
here, my brethren, I pray you, for it is very material ; 
the difference, I repeat it, between God reconciling 
the world to himself and being reconciled to the 
world. To explain myself : where there is reconcilia- 
tion there must have been enmity and variance ; and 
so in the case of God and fallen man. That there is 
enmity in the case, the Scriptures repeatedly aver. 
But on which side is the enmity ? We read, 6 The 
carnal mind is enmity against God :' and we know 
that the mind of every man bora into the world is a 
carnal mind." . . . 

The writer further observes, that " The atonement, 
which word (says he) is identical with reconciliation,* 
so far from being said to have for its object the ap- 
peasing of God or moving him to love, is ever repre- 
sented as originating in the love of God.f 

* See Rom. v. 2 (margin and Greek.) 
f Thus John iii. 16 ; Rom. viii. 32 , and 1 John iv. 8, 9. 



182 



APPENDIX. 



" But, it may be said, if this be so — if God needed 
neither to be appeased or reconciled, where, then, 
was the necessity for the atonement, and what was its 
object ? 

" There was a necessity for the atonement, and had 
an object, my brethren, which far more reflects the 
grace and kindness of our God than either his being 
appeased or reconciled by it. It w r as to justify God 
in the pardon of sin ; and to vindicate his character 
from the charge of indulging transgression in the ex- 
ercise of mercy ; to assist his righteousness ; and to 
show that while he loves the sinner his hatred to sin 
remains unaltered." — - See also p. 57, Note by Dr. 
Leachman. 



(M) — Page 67. 



" People may, by industry and natural abilities," 
says John Newton, " make themselves masters of the 
external evidences of Christianity, and have much to 
say for and against different schemes and systems of 
sentiments, but all this while the heart remains un- 
touched. True religion is not a science of the head, 
so much as an inward and heartfelt perception, which 
casts down imaginations and everything that exalteth 
itself in the mind, and brings every thought into a 
sweet and willing subjection to Christ by faith. Here 
the learned have no real advantage over the ignorant; 



APPENDIX. 



183 



both see when the eves of the understanding are en- 
lightened ; till then both are equally blind : and the 
first lesson in the school of Christ is, to become as a 
little child, sitting simply at his feet, that we may be 
made wise unto salvation," 



(N) — Page 74. 

A writer on 4 The Necessity and Importance of the Scriptural 
and Internal Sense of the Scriptures,' says, — 

" We should conclude, that whatever proceeds im- 
mediately from God, in the nature of a communica- 
tion of his will, must be spiritual and divine ; and that 
the sole design of it, in every part, must be to im- 
prove man in the wisdom of salvation." 

The same writer further observes, — " But who does 
not see that the difference between compositions that 
are really the words of God and the compositions of 
men must be as great as between the works of God 
and the works of men ? And wherein does the differ- 
ence most remarkably consist ? Is it not in the interior 
organization which the works of God possess beyond 
what appears in their outward form ? When we look 
at a picture, or a statue, after we have seen the surface 
we have seen the whole: whereas when we look at any 
of the Creator's works, beautiful and exact as they are 



184 



APPENDIX. 



in their outward form, still, the most beautiful and 
wonderful parts of them are within. 

" Some of those hidden wonders are discoverable by 
means of dissection, and by the aid of glasses ; but 
where the ingenious investigator has extended his ex- 
amination to the utmost limit of his means, he must 
be convinced that his discoveries are general and su- 
perficial compared with the greater wonders which 
still lie concealed. Just so it is with the (written) 
word of God ; and so it must be if it has indeed God 
for its author."* &c. 

On the literal sense he observes, — " That it con- 
tains all the rules of faith which are essential to sal- 
vation. One of these truths, as we have seen, is the 
declaration that the Holy (written) Word contains a 
spiritual sense, no uncertainty (even supposing un- 
certainty to be unavoidable), because the Christian 
faith rests on the literal sense. . . . The spiritual 
and literal sense do, indeed, mutually exalt and assist 
each other ; for although the Divine truth shines with 
peculiar glory in the spiritual sense, yet it does not 
assume its full power until it appears in a plain state- 
ment in the letter ; just as the energies of the human 
mind assume as their instrument of action the human 
bod} v 5 without which they would be hidden and inope- 
rative.- — Anon. 

* Scriptures referred to by the writer are as follows : — Ps. cxix. 
18 ; Ps. lxxviii. 1,2; John vi. 53, &c. ; Gal. iv. 22 to the end ; 
1 Peter iii. 21 ; Rev. xi. 8 ; and many other places both in Old 
and New Testament. 



APPENDIX. 



185 



(O)— Page 75. 



Francis Junius, Professor of Divinity at Leyden and joint trans- 
lator of the Old Testament with Tremellius, (was born at 
Bourges 1545 ; died at Leyden of the plague, 1602), in the ac- 
count of his life, written by himself, relates, that in his youth he 
was seduced into Atheism, from which he represents himself as 
almost miraculously redeemed ; and this appears to have made a 
lasting impression on him. — See Chalmers' Biographical Dic- 
tionary ', Article " Junius." 

He says, apparantly in reference to his conversion,— 

" When I opened the New Testament I first fixed 
my eyes on that most august chapter with which St. 
John begins his Gospel. 6 In the beginning was the 
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word 
was God.' I read part of the chapter (says he) and 
was soon convinced that the divinity of the argument 
and the majesty and authority of the style did far ex- 
cel all the eloquence and art of human writings. My 
whole body trembled, my mind was astonished, and I 
was so affected all that day that I knew not where or 
what I was. O, my God ! thou wast mindful of me, 
according to the multitude of thy mercies, and, in pity, 
broughtest home thy lost sheep into thy fold !" 



186 



APPENDIX. 



(P)— Page 83. 

i 

The following extract is from Archbishop Leighton, Lec- 
ture XIV, on Christ, the Saviour ; taken from much valuable 
matter : — 

u To give (says he) a brief and plain state of the 
case, to those that sincerely and with all their hearts 
receive him, Christ is all things ; to those who receive 
him not, nothing. For how can any good, however 
suitable or extensive, be actually enjoyed, or, indeed, 
any such enjoyment conceived without some kind of 
union between that good and the person supposed to 
stand in need of it ? 6 Behold (says the Psalmist) all 
those that are far from thee shall perish.' To be 
united to God is the great and only good of mankind; 
and the only means of this union is Jesus, in what- 
ever sense you take it. He ought truly to be called 
the Union of Unions, who, that he might with the 
greatest consistency and the more closely unite our 
souls to God, did not disdain to unite himself to a 
human body. ,, &c. 



APPENDIX. 



187 



(Q)— Page 83. 

William Penn, in a work published in the year 1696, entitled, 
' Primitive Christianity Revived/ &c, has many valuable re- 
marks from which the following short exhortation is taken. 

" Wherefore, Oh my Reader ! rest not thyself 
wholly satisfied with what Christ has done for thee 
in his blessed person without thee; but press to know 
his power and kingdom within thee, that the strong 
man, that has too long kept thy house, may be bound, 
and his goods spoiled, his works destroyed, and sin 
ended, according to 1 John iii. 8, ' for which end,' 
says that beloved disciple, ' Christ was manifested : — 
that all things may become new ; new heavens, and 
a new earth, in which righteousness dwelleth.' Thus 
thou wilt come to glorify God in thy body and in thy 
spirit, which are his, and live to him and not to thy- 
self. Thy love, joy, worship, and obedience ; thy life, 
conversation, and practice ; thy study, meditation, 
and devotion, will be Spiritual : for the Father and 
the Son w r ill make their abode with thee, and Christ 
will manifest himself to thee ; for the secrets of the 
Lord are with them that fear him ; and a holy unc- 
tion, or anointing, have all those, which leads them 



188 



APPENDIX. 



into all truth, and they need not the teachings of 
men. 

" They are better taught, being instructed by the 
Divine oracle : no bare hearsay or traditional Chris- 
tians, but fresh and living witnesses : those that have 
seen with their eyes, and heard with their own ears, 
and have handled with their own hands, the word of 
life, in the divers operations of it, to their soul's sal- 
vation. 

Tn this they meet, in this they preach, and in this 
they pray and praise : behold the new covenant ful- 
filled, the church and worship of Christ, the great 
anointed of God, ... in his holy high priest- 
hood, and offices in the church 



(R)— Page 108. 



"Every true Christian," says Dr. Isaac Watts, "has 
a sufficient argument and evidence to support his 
faith, without being able to prove the authority of 
the canonical writings. He may hold fast his religion, 
and be assured that it is Divine, though he cannot 
bring any learned proof that the book that contains 
it, is Divine too ; nay, though the book itself should 
even happen to be lost or destroyed : and this will 
appear, with open and easy conviction, by asking a 



APPENDIX. 



189 



few such questions as these. Was not this same Gos- 
pel preached with glorious success before the New 
Testament was written ? Were not the same doctrines 
of salvation by Jesus Christy published to the world 
by the ministy of the Apostles, and made effectual to 
convert thousands, before they set themselves to com- 
mit these doctrines to writing ? And had not every 
sincere believer, every true convert, this blessed wit- 
ness in himself, that Christianity was from God ? 

" Eight or ten years had passed away, after the as- 
cension of Christ, before any part of the New Testa- 
ment was written ; and what multitudes of Christian 
converts were born again by the preaching of the 
Word, and raised to a Divine and heavenly life, long 
ere this book was half finished or known, and that 
among the heathens as well as Jews ! 

" Great numbers of the Gentile world became holy 
believers, each of them having the epistle of Christ 
written in the heart, and bearing about within them a 
noble and convincing proof, that this religion was 
Divine ; and that without a written Gospel, without 
Epistles, and without a Bible. 

" In the first ages of Christianity, for several hun- 
dred years together, how few among the common peo- 
ple were able to read ? How few could get posses- 
sion or the use of a Bible, when all sacred as well as 
profane books were of necessity copied by writing ? 
How few of the populace, in any large town or city, 
could obtain or could use any small part of Scripture, 
before the art of printing made the Word of God so 



190 



APPENDIX, 



common ? And yet millions of these were regene- 
rated, sanctified, and saved by the ministration of 
the Gospel. 

"Be convinced then, that Christianity has a more 
noble inward witness belonging to it than is derived 
from ink and paper, from precise letters and syllables. 
And though God, in his great wisdom and goodness, 
saw it necessary that the New Testament should be 
written, to preserve these holy doctrines uncorrupted 
through all ages ; and though he has been pleased 
for it to be the invariable and authentic rule of our 
faith and practice, and made it a glorious instrument 
of instructing ministers, and leading men to salvation 
in all these latter times ; yet, Christianity has a secret 
witness in the hearts of believers, that does not de- 
pend on their knowledge and proof of the authority 
of the Scriptures, nor of any of the controversies that 
in latter ages have attended the several manuscript 
copies of the Bible." 

Again, he observes — " Now a wise Christian does 
not build his faith or hope merely upon any one or 
two single texts, but upon the general scope, sum 
and substance of the Gospel. By this, he feels a 
spiritual life of peace and piety begun in him. And 
here lies his evidence that Christianity is Divine, 
and that these doctrines are from heaven, though a 
text or two may be falsely written or wrong trans- 
lated, and though a whole book or two may be hard 
to be proved authentic." . 

Again — " What a glorious advantage is it then to 



APPENDIX. 



191 



have such an infallible testimony to the truth of the 
Gospel, wrought and written in the heart by renew- 
ing grace, as does not depend on this laborious, 
learned, and argumentative evidence of the Divine 
authority of the Bible, or of any particular book or 
verse in it. 

After many more interesting remarks he con- 
cludes this subject thus ; — u I have dwelt the longer 
on showing that the inward witness is such a witness 
to the truth of the Christian religion as does not de- 
pend on the exact truth of letters and syllables ; nor 
on the critical knowledge of the copies of the Bible ; 
nor on this old manuscript, or the other new transla- 
tion, because every manuscript and every translation 
has enough of the Gospel to save souls by it, and 
make a man a Christian ; and because I think this 
point of great importance in our age which has taken 
so many steps to heathenism and infidelity ; for this 
argument or evidence will defend a Christian in the 
profession of the true religion, though he may not 
have skill enough to defend his Bible. 

" Why do you believe in Jesus? asks the unbe- 
liever. If you have this answer ready at hand, ' I 
have found the efficacy and power of the Gospel in 
my heart,' this will be sufficient to answer every cavil. 
The words of St. Paul to the Corinthians have a refer- 
ence to our present subject. Ye are manifestly de- 
clared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us ; 
written, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the Living 



192 



APPENDIX. 



God — not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of 
the heart." 

A short addition from 3 vols, of Sermons, Dr. Watts, vol. i. 

" The Gospel of Christ is like a seal or signet, of 
such inimitable and Divine graving that no created 
power can counterfeit it : and when the Spirit of God 
has stamped this Gospel on the soul, there are so 
many holy and happy lines drawn or impressed there- 
by — so many sacred signatures and Divine features 
stamped on the mind — that give certain evidence both 
of a heavenly signet and a heavenly operator." 

Thus far Isaac Watts, to whom no charge of in- 
difference can attach. 



(S)— Page 109. 



The following is from Wm. Jones, author of the History of the 
Waldenses, &c; from his "Biblical Cyclopoedia," under the head, 
Christ. 

" When we look into the prophecies of the Old 
Testament (says he), we find that immediately after 
the fall of man a deliverer was promised to come of 
the seed of the woman, who was to bruise the head of 



APPENDIX. 193 



the serpent that deceived her ;* and, accordingly, the 
hopes and expectations of the chosen tribes were di- 
rected towards his advent through successive ages. 
At the time that John the Baptist made his appear- 
ance, we are told their expectations ran so high that 
' all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he 
were the Christ or not.f Instead, however, of arro- 
gating to himself that honour, John declared that he 
was merely the harbinger of the Messiah, whose way 
he was sent before to prepare, agreeably to the pro- 
phecy of Isaiah xi. 3 — 5. 

u Accordingly he pointed them to Jesus of Naza- 
reth, as 6 the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of 
the world ;'J the true Messiah, the Son of God.§ It 
was under this view of his character that the disciples 
of Jesus believed in him;|| and it was evidently a 
primary object in the preaching of the Apostles, and 
first ministers of the word, to prove that Jesus, whom 
the Jews crucified, was indeed the Christ.1T In doing 
this they opened up the Scriptures of the Old Testa- 
ment, showed what the Spirit of Christ, which was in 
the prophets, had testified beforehand concerning him, 
pointed their attention to the characteristic marks of 
his person, his family, his manner of life, his suffer- 
ings, death, and glorious resurrection, and by showing 
the accomplishment of all these predictions in the 

* Gen. iii. 15. \ Luke iii. 15. J John i. 29. 

§ Ibid, verse 34. || Mat. xvi. 16 ; John vi. 69. 

^1 Acts ii. 36 ; ix. 22 ; xvii. 4 ; xviii. 28. 

K 



194 



APPENDIX. 



things which happened to Jesus of Nazareth, they 
produce indisputable evidence that he was indeed the 
Christ." 

He then goes on to note the different Scripture re- 
ferences in relation to the prophecies of the Messiah, 
the Saviour of the world, but which are too long and 
complex to introduce into this work.* 

The subject continued, by an extract from a small but interest- 
ing work entitled 4 The Truth and Excellence of the Christian 
Revelation Demonstrated.' By W. Youngman. — London, Jack- 
son and Walford, St. Paul's Church-yard, 1834. 

" The early Christians (says he) had evidences for 
the truth of the Gospel, which went beyond even the 
sight or possession of miraculous powers. In the 
principal cities through which the Apostles passed 
they found many Jews, to whom they were commanded 
first to address themselves. These were in posses- 
sion of the Scriptures of the Old Testament, which 
were read in their synagogues every Sabbath day, and 
to them the Apostles appealed, declaring that they 
came to make known the Messiah foretold by Moses, 
the Psalms, and the prophets. 

66 The Jews themselves fully believed in those pre- 
dictions, and were anxiously looking and waiting for 
their accomplishment. But they had formed an ex- 
pectation concerning the Messiah which was quite 



* See note on this head, p. 110. 



APPENDIX. 



195 



irreconcilable with an admission of the claims of 
Jesus of Nazareth. 

" They fondly anticipated an heroic conqueror, who 
should raise his prostrate people to a high rank 
amongst the nations, should restore all the children 
of the dispersion to the independent and glorious pos- 
session of their promised land, and enrich his imme- 
diate followers with the spoils of his vanquished ene- 
mies. It was hard to dispel such a splendid vision : 
and the question, whether the crucified Nazarene was, 
or could be, the Christ predicted in the lofty poesy of 
Isaiah, was the subject of violent debate. 

" The greater part of the Jews became, in conse- 
quence, the most inveterate opponents of the Gospel, 
and the most implacable persecutors of its mis- 
sionaries. 

" Two thousand years have now nearly elapsed, and 
they have not been able to establish a rival claim. In 
the degradation and misery of this long dispersion, 
they begin to tremble at the distressing alternative, 
that either the prophets have foretold no Messiah at 
all, or that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. In the 
first age of Christianity, however, no doubt was enter- 
tained on the first point ; and many, after an anxious 
and candid examination, were so impressed with the 
agreement between the life and actions of Jesus and 
the predictions of their own Scriptures, that they be- 
came believers in his Divine mission. 

" These prophecies of the Old Testament are now 
open to us as they were to the Jews of old. 

K 2 



196 



APPENDIX. 



" The signs and wonders of the Apostles we con- 
template somewhat dimmed by the long ages which 
have intervened ; but the prophecies still shine in all 
their native lustre, and their evidence accumulates 
strength as their fulfilment becomes more manifest. 
We do not receive this evidence of the truth of 
the Gospel merely because it satisfied the first 
converts, but because we can see and judge of it 
ourselves. 

" Discrimination must, however, be exercised in 
the application of the prophecies. They are of two, 
or rather of three, kinds. The first consists of those 
which directly and solely predict the Messiah, which 
as some of the prophecies of Isaiah, of Daniel, of Ma- 
lachi, &c, and some of the Psalms. Those of the 
second class have an immediate reference to other 
persons and circumstances, whilst their grand and ul- 
timate object is, to shadow forth, in mystical outline, 
the same great personage. The third class, which 
may also be considered as a branch of the second, 
consists of those institutions,persons, and events which 
belonged to the former dispensation, but which have 
also a typical allusion to one that was future. 

" The foundation of these distinctions is this : — 
God, for the purpose of fulfilling his gracious designs 
to the world, made a covenant with Abraham consist- 
ing of two distinct provisions, first, that his seed 
should be a peculiar people and possess the land of 
Canaan ; secondly, that through them all the other 
nations of the earth should be blessed. This last was 



APPENDIX. 



197 



the grand object, to which the other was subservient, 
which still had a distinct subsistence of its own. The 
Divine Being watched over this family till they seemed 
lost in the darkness of Egyptian bondage ; but, 
through bis faithfulness, they emerged at the ap- 
pointed time. By the power of his arm, he led them 
forth from Egypt ; and by the same might fulfilled his 
promise of placing them in the land of Canaan, the 
land promised to their fathers. 

" Two purposes were to be answered by this event 
also : one was, to punish and extirpate the polluted 
and polluting nations who inhabited that land ; the 
other, to fulfil the promise made to Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob. In like manner, several distinct purposes 
were answered by the dispensation of religion and 
government given by Moses. One of these was, to 
preserve in the world the knowledge and worship of 
one God, the Creator and Governor of all things : ano- 
ther, to maintain the Israelites in a happy state of 
national existence, under his immediate government : 
the last, to prepare the way, by his temporal dispen- 
sation, for the ultimate establishment of the spiritual 
kingdom of the Messiah. The laws, the rewards, the 
punishments of the Mosaic dispensation were all tem- 
poral. 

" Its religious observances had a direct reference 
mainly to the things of this life ; but they had through- 
out a meaning, hidden from common observation, 
which indicated the approach of a superior system. 
Thus the great day of annual atonement for the sins 



198 



APPENDIX. 



of the whole people was appointed to free them from 
the temporal penalties which were denounced against 
them. 

" But it also plainly indicated that one great spi- 
ritual sacrifice of propitiation which was to be offered 
by Jesus Christ for the sins of the whole world. 

" In like manner the persons and events of that 
dispensation had in them, generally, beside their pri- 
mary and immediate object, an indirect relation to the 
future and universal establishment of the kingdom of 
heaven." 



(T) — Page 131. 

A few extracts from Benjamin Bennet's Devout Meditations 
entitled 'The Christian Oratory.' Benjamin Bennet was a mi- 
nister highly spoken of, as a pious man and a consistent Chris- 
tian, by Doddridge, Dr. Latham, and others. He died, after five 
days' illness, full of hope, in the year 1726, in the 52nd year of 
his age. 

From Meditation IV. p. 82. On the Power of Divine Grace. 
" By the grace of God, I am what I am." — 1 Cor. xv. 10. 

. . . " (Grace) is applied to all those benefits 
which are the effects of the Divine benevolence to- 
wards the children of men. Hence we are said to be 
'justified freely by his grace, and by grace we are 
saved.' Sometimes it signifies, more particularly, 
the Divine power exerted on the hearts of men, or 



APPENDIX. 



199 



the influence of his Spirit, enlightening, renewing, and 
converting the soul. So the Apostle uses it, — * When 
it pleased God, who called me by his grace.'* It is 
also used for the Divine influence in general as con- 
tinued to believers, for carrying on the work of reli- 
gion in the soul. . . . 6 By the grace of God I 
am what I am;' as also in the following words : — 6 I 
laboured more abundantly, yet not I, but the grace of 
God, which was with me.' This Divine operation 
upon the heart is, with propriety, called grace, since 
it is the effect of the Divine favour and good will to 
men, as is the Gospel itself and every spiritual bless- 
ing which it reveals, being derived from the same free 
source ; so that to whatever the term grace is applied 
the primary idea of it is retained. In all, ' the love 
and kindness of God our Saviour appears.' . . . 
It is by the grace of God that I am a true convert, if 
indeed I am such ; that I have been renewed in the 
spirit of my mind and brought to engage in thy ser- 
vice. . . . It is by the grace of God that I pos- 
sess any of the ornaments of a true believer. If any 
of the graces and virtues of the Christian temper are 
found in me, they are the fruits of thy Spirit. My 
faith is of thy operation. It is thou who hast begot- 
ten me again to a lively hope, and who hast shed 
abroad thy love in my heart. . . . It is by the 
grace of God that I have been directed in particular 
straits and difficulties. Often have I been at a loss 



* Gal. i. 15. 



200 



APPENDIX. 



concerning my duty, when, upon serious application 
to God, lie has pointed out to me the way I should 
choose." . . . 



From Meditation VI. On the Chief Evidence of true Grace. 
" I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision." — Acts 
xxvi. 19. 

" The conversion of this great Apostle, which he 
here relates before King Agrippa, had in it something 
very extraordinary." (See particulars in the above 
chapter,) ..." Though his call was in itself so 
very extraordinary, the most satisfactory evidence of 
its reality arose from its effects and consequences of 
t. The grace which Paul received was a principle of 
obedience. And such it is in all who receive the 
grace of God in truth. ... If I can with truth 
declare that I find myself under the habitual impres- 
sions of religion and the fear of God; if I am conscious 
that I love him and am careful to obey him in all 
things, I have no reason to question the truth of my 
Christianity. 

" God doth not tie himself up to one uniform 
method in dispensing his grace. We ought not, 
therefore, to think that the good work is not done at 
all because it is not done in the way that it sometimes 
is, or that we may expect or wish. Scougal, in his e Life 
of God in the Soul of Man,' says, c l doubt not it hath 
occasioned much unnecessary disquietude to some 



APPENDIX. 



201 



holy persons, that they have not found such a regular 
and orderly transaction in their souls as they have 
seen described in books ; that they have not passed 
through all those steps and stages of conversion which 
some who (perhaps have felt them) have too peremp- 
torily prescribed unto others. God hath several 
ways of dealing with the souls of men, and it sufficeth, 
if the work be accomplished, whatever the methods 
may have been.' He works all things 6 according to 
the counsel of his own will/ always with wisdom, and 
in the manner which is best." 



From Meditation VII. On the Fruits of Divine Grace. " And 
his grace was not "bestowed upon me in vain, but I laboured more 
abundantly." — 1 Cor. xv. 16. 

. . . " The certain and necessary effect of true 
grace is, the Divine nature communicated ; the image 
of God drawn on the soul, consisting of the several 
graces that adorn the Christian's temper and conver- 
sation; ' the root of which (says the excellent Scougal) 
is faith ; the chief branches, love to God, charity to 
man, purity and humility.' These are the highest 
perfections that either men or angels are capable of, 
&c. Again, Divine grace in the soul is a principle of 
universal obedience and active service in religion. 
The grace of God in the Gospel, and especially in the 
heart, teaches and disposes us not only to ' deny all 



202 



APPENDIX. 



ungodliness and worldly lusts/ but also to 6 live so- 
berly, righteously, and godly in the world.' 

" Saul, under the first impression of grace, cried 
out, 6 Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?' And his 
whole after-conduct showed his loyalty to his great 
master. He 6 laboured more abundantly,' and thought 
no pains or self-denial too much to promote the 
honour of God and the interest of his church. He 
could truly say, 6 To me, to live is Christ.' 

" With what a noble, generous zeal did he go 
through his various labours for the honour of the Re- 
deemer and the good of souls. He was willing to 
6 spend and be spent ' in his service, 6 not counting his 
life dear unto him,' so that he might secure these 
ends. . . . 

" Religion is an inward, free, self-moving principle ; 
and those who have made progress in it are actuated 
not only by external motives, driven merely by threat- 
enings, nor bribed by promises, nor constrained by 
laws, but are powerfully inclined to that which is 
good, and delight in the performance of it. The love 
which a pious man bears to God and goodness is not 
so much by virtue of a command enjoining him to do 
so and so, as by a new nature prompting him to it. 
His charity is not forced, nor his alms extorted from 
him ; his love makes him willing to give ; and though 
there were no outward obligation, his heart would de- 
vise liberal things. What our blessed Lord said of 
himself is, in some measure, applicable to his fol- 
lowers, that it was his meat and drink to do his fathers 



APPENDIX. 



203 



will. Lord, may I experience more of the power of 
thy grace in this view ! May religion become more 
my delight, my very life and nature, my entertainment 
and joy." 



From Meditation VIII. On the Influences of the Holy Spirit. 
" The supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ."— Phil. i. 19. 

u There are few mistakes in religion, I apprehend, 
more prejudicial to Christianity and the souls of men 
than that of confining the operations of the Spirit to 
the miraculous works in the first dispensation of the 
Gospel. Christ promised his spirit 4 to abide with 
the church for ever.' And the Apostle, in the above 
passage, speaks of the supply of the spirit of Jesus 
Christ as what he desired and hoped to be imparted 
to him, not only for the proof of his apostleship, but 
for the promoting of his salvation. In the same view 
we are encouraged to seek and depend upon the same 
Divine influence. ... To be under this influ- 
ence, is spoken of as characteristic of a true Christian. 
1 As many as are led by the spirit of God they are the 
sons of God ;' whereas 6 if any man have not the spirit 
of Christ,' he is declared to be ' none of his.' Sensual, 
and not having the spirit, are characters of the same 
persons. Regeneration is represented as the c renew- 
ing of the Holy Ghost:' and in every renewed soul 
the Holy Spirit is said to take up his abode. The 



204 



APPENDIX. 



Divine Spirit doth not accomplish his work in the 
hearts of men at once, but, by dwelling there, affords 
continued assistance in maintaining and carrying it 
on. 6 The supply of the spirit imports continued com- 
munications of that Divine influence.' . . . 

" O, my God, never leave me nor forsake me ! 6 Up- 
hold me by thy free spirit ;' and always proportion 
my strength to my day. 6 O cast me not away from 
thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from 
me.'" ... 



From Meditation IX. The Spirit's Influence Defended and 
Improved. " How much more shall your heavenly father give the 
Holy Spirit to them that ask him." — Luke xi. 13. 

" Many warm disputes have been raised in the 
church of Christ about the influences of the Holy 
Spirit, the freedom of the will, &c. But I shall leave 
them with those whose leisure, profession, and studies 
may qualify them to judge of such points better than 
I can pretend to do. There are, however, truths of 
great importance which I can clearly discern in the 
midst of that dust which has been raised by the vio- 
lent agitations of learned men upon these subjects. 

" There are conclusions which appear to me firm 
and solid, which I purpose to abide by, notwithstand- 
ing some difficulties that attend them. ... 4 Ask,' 
says our Lord, 6 and ye shall receive ; seek, and ye 
shall find.' In this way the Christian may hope for 



APPENDIX. 



205 



grace proportioned to his occasions and circum- 
stances. . . . 

" I can see no inconsistency between the Spirit's 
help and human endeavours. These are always to 
be in conjunction. The Divine assistance does not 
render our exertions unnecessary, nor are our best 
endeavours sufficient without the Divine help : there 
is a concurrence of both. We are not, therefore, to 
sit still and indulge in sloth. . . . The assistance 
of the Spirit of God is so far from being an excuse 
for the neglect of the duties of religion, that it is the 
greatest encouragement to them. The language of 
the T • ine word is, ' Work out your own salvation, 
for ' s God that worketh in you.' We are to work, 
because God worketh in us, that is to say, assists us in 
our work. In all the duties of religion, we work 
through and by him, not merely as his instruments, 
but as proper agents, moving and acting under his 
conduct and influence. Hence that saying of the 
Apostle, 'I laboured, yet not I, but the grace of God 
that was with me.' 

. . . " Finally, I would ever bear it in mind as 
certain and most important truth, that the great end 
of all the Spirit's operations is sanctification of heart 
and life. . . . Indeed, the promoting of holiness 
(which is the refining our natures and conforming 
them to the Divine image) is the grand object of all 
God's designs and acts of grace. . . . 

" I cannot, therefore, understand what they mean, 
or how they read their Bibles, who speak in such 



206 



APPENDIX. 



diminutive terms as some do of good works, as if 
they were of no necessity in religion, or of no in- 
trinsic value. 

" We must not, indeed, put them in Christ's stead, 
and depend on them for that merit which is proper 
to his righteousness ; but then we must be equally 
careful not to depend upon what he has done for us 
to the neglect of what he requires to be done by us. 
This is an error of the most pernicious consequence: 
— the worst heresy that infests the Christian church. 
This makes void the law of God, subverts the design 
of the Gospel, and sets aside the office of the blessed 
Spirit. O, my God, suffer me not thus to pervert 
and abuse the Gospel of thy grace. Grant me thy 
spirit as a 6 spirit of holiness.' Make me rich in 
good works. Help me to abound in all 6 the fruits of 
righteousness which are to thy praise and glory by 
Jesus Christ.' 

" And now, my friends, in conclusion, let us en- 
deavour to unite with this pious writer in his solemn 
aspirations, — ' O, my soul, wait thou on God for all 
needful supplies of his Spirit.' I have his promise 
for it, and may be secure of the performance if I 
myself do not put a bar in the way, by despising the 
blessing or neglecting the appointed means of ob- 
taining it. . * . For this, O my God, I would 
constantly supplicate before thy throne, with such 
importunity as shows a high value for the blessing. 
Let me have thy special conduct in the great con- 
cerns of my soul. Lead me, by thy Spirit, in the 



APPENDIX. 



207 



ways of truth, of righteousness, and peace. Lord, 
take me under thy powerful protection; preserve ine 
from all hurtful errors, and from every false way. Let 
thy Spirit dwell in me as my strength, my light, and 
my comforter. 6 Guide me by thy counsel, and after- 
wards receive me to glory.' " 



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